DA tops votes in KwaDukuza’s Ward 22
Quick and painless at Salt Rock voting station.
The DA have claimed the top spot in KwaDukuza’s Ward 22 bagging 4141 (national) and 3903 (provincial) votes, with the ANC in second place with just 1537 (national) and 1504 (provincial) votes.
There are five polling stations ward 22, which includes Salt Rock, Ballito Compensation station, Shakaskraal and Tinley Manor.
The only polling station where the ANC took preference was Shakaskraal where 687 national votes were ANC, 574 DA, and 24 EFF. Provincial votes followed much the same pattern.
The Tinley Manor station had the fewest amount of voters coming through with 298 voters casting their votes out of 348 registered voters with 296 votes being valid.
Voting at all polling stations appeared to be running smoothly yesterday with only a few minor problems during the day.
Most voters’ the Courier spoke to at the Salt Rock Library were happy with the process, with many saying they were surprised that voting took only a few minutes.
This included well known comedian Michael Naicker who was spotted casting his vote.
Allison Shone, a second time voter, described her voting experience as “so quick and very organised” and married couple Greg and Sené Wilson said that their voting was “painless”.
“It took us less than twenty minutes. I never thought it would be that quick,” said Sené.
However there were a few problems, including voters being told they were not allowed to vote and turned away from the voting station.
Christo Sarafidis was not allowed to vote because he was not a South African citizen but has lived in South Africa for over ten years and has voted in previous elections.
Melanie Lintott was turned away from the Salt Rock station and told she was not allowed to vote at this station and must go into Ballito to vote.
A few other people were told they were unable to vote but they refused to budge and ended up being allowed to cast their vote.
Some people were also very concerned by the fact that there was only one ballot box for both provincial and national votes but Ward 22 councillor Ann McDonnell said this was not a problem.
“It would be very easy to split the votes,”said McDonnell.
Alice Mahlangu and Kaylee Barnard were the girls from ‘Girls on the Go’ who were there throughout the morning selling coffee and water to voters waiting in the queue.
A highlight of the morning was spotting famous local comedian Michael Naicker after casting his vote.
