Some voters encounter hiccups at Durban voting stations

DURBAN - SEVERAL voters in KwaMashu hostel and in Cato Crest expressed their frustrations after being turned away from voting stations by Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) staff yesterday as their names did not appear on the voters roll.

Sipho Ntuli, 46, who said he was at the voting station in KwaMashu by 9am, said he had registered at the voting station and was shocked when he was told that his name was not on the voters roll. However, a swift reaction from a councillor candidate belonging to the IFP ensured that Ntuli was able to cast his vote at Bhekuzulu Hall.

“It is satisfying and with great relief that I have been able to make my mark,” Ntuli told The Mercury yesterday afternoon.

IEC presiding officer at the voting station at KwaMashu Hostel, Mdu Nkosi said voting had been incident-free.

“People started arriving at about 8 this morning and our assessment so far is that voting is going smoothly.”

Jayanth Kemraj, a presiding officer at one of the voting stations in Phoenix, described voting as being incident-free.

There was elation from ANC members when ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) member and Police Minister Bheki Cele arrived in KwaMashu for a short visit at one of the voting stations.

Aside from the township, Cele said he had conducted whistle-stop visits to different parts of the province and he expressed satisfaction about the general voting process, but indicated there were areas that the police were keeping a close watch on as they had been identified as hot spots.

North of Durban, areas such as KwaMashu, Inanda and Phoenix saw a steady stream of voters, while others went about their daily routines and enjoyed the holiday.

In ward 101, Cato Crest in Durban, the ANC claimed that some of the people who had been moved to the ward through the demarcation process, did not appear on the voters roll yesterday.

ANC branch chairperson in ward 101 Fikile Mazibuko said hundreds of people were “moved” from ward 30 to ward 101 via the demarcation process.

Many had registered to vote under ward 101 at the Mayville Secondary School.

“One person who is in the Branch Executive Committee of the ANC was one of those people that have been affected, she registered in this ward, but she is not appearing on the list, that is one of the serious concerns we are facing with this voting station.

“We were informed that an area manager had been called to sort out the issue, but many of those affected by this have left and I fear they will not bother to come back,” she said.

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