The first votes in the August 2016 local government elections were cast on Monday morning by special voters, marking the beginning of the tightly-contested polls the Electoral Commission of South Africa said.
“In a very few instances, special voting was briefly delayed and in some cases had still not got underway by 11am due to a variety of reasons,†IEC chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya told reporters at the national results operations centre in Tshwane.
The reasons for the delay included vehicle accidents involving IEC staff, incorrect ballot papers delivered to voting stations and community protests.
“A few voting stations reported opening late or were still not open at 11am today (Monday) due to community action which was preventing election staff gaining access to these areas – including due to trenches being dug to prevent vehicular access,†said Moepya.
“These (places) included Ward 8 in Ratlou in the North West; Ward 11 in Emfuleni and Ward 16 in Midvaal, Gauteng; Ward 1 in Umzimkhulu in KwaZulu-Natal; Ward 19 in Mbizana, and Ward 6 and Ward 16 in Ntabankulu in the Eastern Cape.â€
The IEC said special voting in the volatile Vuwani area in Limpopo was only set to start on Tuesday due to the small number of only 32 applications for special votes approved in the area.
– African News Agency (ANA)
