Voting kicked off on Monday with only isolated disruptions reported countrywide by the end of the first day of special voting.
About 1.6-million people have applied to cast their ballot in the special vote, a special dispensation for those who cannot get to a polling station on election day.
“The reports of difficulties are insignificant. The incidents represent about 0.1% of the total work of the IEC but we will try our best to assist everyone,” Masego Sheburi, deputy chief electoral officer of the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), said in a media briefing at the national results centre in Midrand.
The IEC set aside Monday and Tuesday for the casting of special votes countrywide, with tens of millions more South Africans set to go to the polls on Wednesday.
The commission is under pressure to deliver a credible election at a time when the ANC’s electoral majority is under threat for the first time and the opposition sees an opportunity to gain state power.
Out of more than 22,000 voting stations, fewer than 200 did not open on time on Monday, said Mpumi Tyikwe, the CEO of state-owned special risks insurer Sasria.
The IEC said that the issue had been resolved.
The casting of special votes was affected in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, where disgruntled taxi operators allegedly blocked off major routes throughout the city, bringing travel to a standstill. There were reports of freight trucks being looted and at least one set alight.
Eastern Cape department of transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose told Business Day the taxi operators behind the protest were angry that the police had recently confiscated firearms belonging to their security detail. “They argue that this move has left them exposed and are now demanding those weapons back,” Binqose said.
Binqose added that the protest had affected “virtually everything in Mthatha, including those who are expected to cast their special votes today [Monday]”.
The IEC told a media briefing that the matter was receiving urgent attention. “Natjoints are working on the matter. We will do whatever is humanly possible to ensure those stations opened,” Sheburi said.
Natjoints is the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure comprising the police, defence force and other law enforcement agencies.
Meanwhile, IEC officials in KwaZulu-Natal met leaders of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) to spell out the rules after two storage facilities were unlawfully entered at the weekend.
“The IEC’s provincial leadership met the party and established the basic rules. As to the incidents reported, we are still processing the matter with police. We will know the way forward in due course,” another IEC deputy chief electoral officer, Mawethu Mosery, said at the briefing.
National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said extra public order policing members had been deployed to different parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Mthatha to “bolster law enforcement agencies’ deployments and intensify crime combating efforts”. This, she said, was announced during a send-off parade in Harrismith where police national commissioner Fannie Masemola addressed more than 700 public order policing members.
“We are sending you off to maintain law and order. No disruptions and acts of criminality should take place under your watch. We are sending you out there to protect the constitutional right of South Africans and the integrity of the election process,” Masemola said.
He said police had mobilised “maximum resources” to combat the lawlessness in Mthatha. Police had arrested five people who had attempted to “block roads leading to the Mthatha airport”.
Sasria said it expected only isolated pockets of post-election protest. Tyikwe said that if the ANC won more than 48% of the vote, there was a slim chance of protest or instability.
Update: May 27 2024
This story has been updated with new information.
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