The South African general elections generated more than one million online mentions between May 24 and 31, tripling the previous bi-weekly average, according to the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC).
Some major issues raised were voter education, long queues at voting stations, misinformation and disinformation.
CABC reports that these issues were raised to undermine the integrity of the Electoral Commission (IEC). Prevailing anti-African National Congress sentiment was evident, with South Africans online reminding fellow citizens of the party's failures over the years.
The report noted multiple calls to extend voting hours, enable online voting, or add an extra day to the election. The calls were motivated to encourage higher participation. Concerns about the security of ballot boxes were also cited as a reason for these suggestions. The IEC then confirmed that people who are in the voting queue at 9pm would be able to vote.
However, a high-engagement post raised concerns that South Africa is not ready for online voting, despite the introduction of an online registration system.
There were reports of companies criticized for not giving their employees enough time to vote. One person said that an employee at a Clicks outlet would not have any free time after work to vote. The post attracted approximately 9,000 likes and was shared over 1,000 times by different users. In response, employees at other stores shared similar sentiments.
In addition, isolated disruptions occurred, including taxi violence in Mthatha impacting special voting according to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), protests in Keiskammahoek over land claims preventing voting, and rubber bullets fired at voters in Thokoza, Gauteng, and during Taung service delivery protests in Free State.
Some voters waited for more than 9 hours before casting their ballots, followed by suggestions that strategic delays happened in voting areas where people didn't vote for the African National Congress (ANC), leading to accusations of electoral manipulation. Despite challenges, some online South Africans expressed pride at the level of voter turnout and urged others to exercise their democratic rights.
Among the main talking points during the election period was the Section 24A vote that allowed voters voting outside their district to notify the commission between 15 March and 17 May, reports CABC. Many individuals claimed they were unaware of Section 24A.
"Some users argued that they were not aware of this rule. Others alleged that the message was either not shared widely enough, or that the rule did not make provision for those who are unable to vote where they registered due to unforeseen circumstances on the day. Others criticized those who claim to have had no knowledge of Section 24A of ignoring or not paying attention to IEC messaging. It appears that the rule was not applied the same in various voting stations, with some individuals stating that they were allowed to vote, and others stating that they were turned away," according to the report.
Misinformation & Disinformation
The CABC reported a series of posts that sought to cast doubt on the security measures implemented by the IEC regarding ballot forms and boxes. The report said that a variety of posts focused on allegations of forgotten or rigged ballots, and election manipulation, predominantly from accounts aligned with the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK).
One video which went viral on TikTok and Twitter/X seemed to show someone marking votes for an election different from South Africa's; accusing the ruling party ANC of rigging the South African elections.
A video posted by influential Twitter/X account @ChrisExcel102 where MK Party members were arguing over a box with no seal, thus adding weight to assertions about a "captured" IEC seen favouring the ANC.
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In addition, TikTok videos also reported election rigging.
The CABC noted unverified imagery of election result updates on three posts claiming to be from eNCA. The first post showcases the MK Party at 66% of the votes in KwaZulu-Natal. While the second conflates eNCA projection estimates with votes cast. The third, assessed by the Real411, states that the MK Party is set to receive 24% of the votes.
Allegations of vote rigging emerged during the week, with concerns going beyond ballot boxes. This followed suspicions of manipulation when the IEC dashboard went down early on Friday 31 May. "Rigging" and "rigged" continued to trend," CABC reported, "despite incomplete process of counting."
The IEC issued a statement on the accessibility of the results dashboard and denied that the verification of votes was compromised.
