IEC springs into action after community confiscate ballot box

COMMUNITY members disrupted the voting process when they confiscated a ballot box from a voting station at eThekwini College in Ward 32.

Spokesperson for the Independent Electoral Commission, Thabani Ngwira said the community confiscated the ballot box for about 10 minutes.

“SAPS was reinforced, the ballot box was secured and the crowd was also dispersed,” he said.

The ballot box was snatched up after some people some members of the community alleged that they updated their registration details during the registration weekend. Despite these claims, their names did not appear on the voters’ roll.

Also read: Hunt Road voters head to polls for local elections

“The community alleged that over 400 people, who had been administered manually during the registration weekend, were left out and were not on the voters’ roll,” said Ngwira.

The counting process was moved from the voting station to the eThekwini Metro capturing site.

Also read: WATCH: Mixed reviews at Musgrave polls as voting gets underway

“These ballots will be counted in the presence of the Party Liaison Committee to include a process of verification whether the number of ballots in the ballot box reconciles with the numbers that have been crossed off and marked as voted on the voters’ roll in the voting station. The matter is still under investigation by SAPS,” said Ngwira.

He said information that was drawn from the Voter Management Device reflected a voter turnout of 1 913 309.

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