A voter claims that he cast his ballot in the early hours of Thursday, 30 May, due to the long queue at a polling station in Hatfield, Pretoria. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
After a long night of queuing in the cold, a disgruntled voter headed to social media on Thursday morning to blast the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) after he cast his vote at 5am on Thursday.
In an X post, the man claims he finally managed to exercise his democratic right at a voting station in Hatfield, Pretoria…a day after the 29 May elections.
“Just voted now now in Hatfield. The IEC is acting like they were told yesterday that we are going to vote. If I get sick y’all will pay…,” @_BlackZA wrote at 5.08am.
Logistical glitches at polling stations around the country on X-day delayed voting by hours and forced some to remain open beyond the 9pm cut-off time.
With estimates showing that the voter turnout may have been more than 66% from 2019, marathon queues reminiscent of the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, were observed, notably at Wits University and in Durban.
On Wednesday evening, the IEC assured anxious voters that those who were still in the queues at 9pm would be allowed to vote.
It turned out to be a very long night indeed, with SABC News reporting after 11pm that voters in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, were still waiting in the dark to cast their votes.
Many stations in and around the capital city were also experiencing long queues, including Hatfield, where mostly students from the University of Pretoria − and our 5am voter − waited to cast their ballot.
Many social media users sympathised with the Hatfield voter for his election nightmare.
@Mpumiln: “In this cold, yho askies”.
@Itu_MM: “Tjo I hope you’re not going to work”.
@bathabilem: “For that I know that you cast the right vote”.
@Remz_028: “You thugged it out”.
@KhanyiKuubz: “You did it. I’m super proud”.
ALSO READ: ‘Thabo Mbeki threw me out the line’ – South African comedian on his voting experience
IEC commissioner Janet Love told EWN that, apart from logistical glitches, there were several external issues that affected the voting process.
According to Love, some of these issues included delivery plans not being followed and navigating through service delivery protests.
“There isn’t a single reason. Some of them were because of escorts, some were because the people whose delivery plans were located on our system didn’t follow those delivery plans.
“Why? We have to establish that. Some it’s because people were having difficulty navigating through service delivery protests.”
NOW READ: Elections: Numerous challenges arise but Mzansi pushes through to cast their vote
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