23 April 2009
Cape Town — SOUTH Africans determined to cast their votes were still standing in queues into the early hours of this morning, some of them voting by candlelight throughout the night.
And in the Western Cape this morning, the DA was quick to claim an early victory as early results put the party in the lead in the province.
Voters were sometimes forced to vote in darkness when candles ran out and streams of other complaints to the IEC included ballot paper shortages, forcing people across the country to queue for long periods.
Around midnight, nearly 20 000 voting stations were still open, 187 of these in the Western Cape.
At that stage, the Eastern Cape was worst affected, with more than 2 000 of its 4 482 venues still open.
In Gauteng, two hours after the official 9pm closing time, 1 514 of the 2 295 stations, or 66 percent, were still operating. Results were trickling in at the time of going to press, with political parties complaining bitterly about everything from the conduct of presiding officers to the shortage of ballot papers and ballot boxes.
The IEC blamed people for abusing the "vote anywhere" allowance, saying it was supposed to have been used in exceptional cases, but had instead been "the rule".
While results this morning put the DA in the lead in the Western Cape, three of the largest voting districts in the city - Mitchells Plain, Atlantis and Khayelitsha - had still to be counted.
With more than half the provincial votes counted, the DA had edged ahead with 52 percent of the vote, followed by the ANC with 27 percent.
The ID and newcomers Cope were neck and neck, with 7 percent each.
With the results of nine municipalities completed, the DA has registered victories in Kannaland (Ladismith), Matzikama (Vredendal), Oudtshoorn, Hessequa (Heidelberg and Riversdal), Cederberg (Citrusdal), Cape Agulhas (Bredasdorp) and Mossel Bay, Breede Valley (Robertson) and Cape Winelands municipalities.
DA provincial leader Theuns Botha was confident that the party would also take Mitchells Plain.
Of the 2.6 million people registered to vote in the province, 73 percent had voted by 10.55pm. In Cape Town, the biggest voting district, 77 percent of the 1.7 million registered voters cast their ballots. In the Eastern Cape, Cope has called for the results from about 50 polling stations in that province to be nullified.
Cope leaders said voters had been disenfranchised after voting stations in 12 wards in the Nelson Mandela Metro (Port Elizabeth) ran out of ballot papers, causing delays which saw voters leave the queues without voting.
The ANC's main complaint was about the presiding officer in Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal who was allegedly found with stacks of ballot papers marked in favour of the IFP. The person has since been dismissed by the IEC and has been charged by the police.
ACDP MP Steve Swart said they had lodged 10 complaints about the shortage of ballot papers and ballot boxes, and all had been resolved.
"People waited in the queues and were told to come back later. They were disillusioned and never came back. In spite of that, we are pleased that this was a peaceful election," he said.
In some places, improvisation was essential. At Joubert Park, Gauteng's largest voting station, they ran out of ballot boxes at 6pm, with hundreds still in the queue. Presiding officer Patrick Phosa, in consultation with party officials, decided to use municipal bins.
"I had to do what was in the interest of the voter," he said. The bins, sealed with the IEC's tape, were guarded by six police officers throughout the evening.
Back in the Western Cape, endless snaking queues and candle-lit voting took place at several township voting stations.
Nobuntu Solomon, presiding officer at the Ark Educare Centre in an informal settlement in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha, said he had asked for a generator and got candles instead. The voting station had five booths, but two had to be closed because of insufficient candles. Eight candles were burning as the sun set yesterday.
The darkness did not, however, deter voters. A total 1 308 people had registered at the station and, by 6.30pm, nearly a third had already cast their votes. At least 14 stations across the province had no electricity, according to the ANC.
Premier Lynne Brown called the situation “sad and unfortunate”, adding that the IEC should have planned better when selecting venues in poor areas.
DA MP Ryan Coetzee called the shortages of ballot papers “gross incompetence” on the part of the IEC. But provincial electoral officer Courtney Sampson said the IEC had planned for a system on which the South African electoral process was based – where people voted in the district in which they were registered.
He said that although there had always been a provision where people could vote “where they found themselves” on elections day, this provision had been abused, as it was an exception to accommodate people who were outside their registration areas on voting day.
“What we have seen in this election is not the exception, but the rule, with people voting everywhere,” he said, adding that this had undermined planning.
“For example, if you prepared 2 000 ballots for 2 000 registered voters, and then have 2 500 people showing up to vote, you will have a shortage,” he said, warning that some voting districts would have a more than 100 percent voter turnout.
“I feel unhappy about the situation. It’s extremely unpleasant to wait hours to vote, and for officials to work under the circumstances.”
Meanwhile, the ANC has announced that it will try to persuade opposition parties to form a coalition to hang on to power in the Western Cape. This was confirmed by senior provincial leader Marius Fransman.
Cope’s Western Cape premier candidate, Allan Boesak, again pledged yesterday not to enter a coalition with the ANC. Even if they did, indications this morning were that it may not be enough for a majority.
The ID is already in a coalition with the DA in the City of Cape Town, and has in the past felt its voters’ wrath for initially siding with the ANC.
This leaves the DA with the best chance of forming a coalition in the next few days. Zille would be an overwhelming front-runner to take the position of premier. But a small chance exists that either De Lille or Boesak will try to push a deal making their participation in a coalition contingent on being given the keys to Leeuwenhof.
By: Lindsay Dentlinger, Andisiwe Makinana, Esther Lewis, Murray Williams and Beauregard Tromp
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