Thousands register to vote
While thousands of Durban Northers made their way to the registration stations, Ward councillor, Dean Macpherson lodged an objection with the IEC over questionable registrations.
THE Democratic Alliance in Durban North and uMhlanga believe the final registration weekend in the area went off smoothly despite a few concerns.
In total, 2506 new registrations were taken in ward 36 on 8 and 9 February throughout the six voting stations.
“Glenashley Junior Primary, Chelsea Preparatory School and Durban North College were particularly busy,” said Ward 36 councillor, Dean Macpherson.
“However, the weekend was marred by a few incidents. I lodged a formal objection to a number of questionable registrations at Rosehill Primary School,” Macpherson said.
He said during the course of the day, he and the DA party agent, Rex Aspelling saw a number of people registering, using slips of paper with addresses on them.
“We observed people, when questioned about their addresses, did not know them and had to phone an unknown person for an address,” he said.
“I was advised by community members of the area that the ANC was bringing in people from outside the ward to register to vote due to the unwillingness of Briardene residents to register to vote.
Macpherson requested that an investigation be conducted by the IEC to verify addresses listed from Krishna Road for registrations taken at Rosehill Primary School.
“The second issue was discovered after a number of ANC vehicles were found to be driving around Durban North dropping off people to register to vote. At Durban North College, a group of five people were refused registration after they admitted the ANC had dropped them off to register to vote and provided false addresses,” he said.
But the chairperson for the ANC in ward 35 said Mcpherson’s allegations were “baseless.”
Thembinkosi Ngcobo said: “The DA themselves are guilty of that. We have been working on a campaign in which we are planning to take over that ward. We are trying get people to move their votes from whichever area they come from to that ward, but that is if they live in that ward. For example, Bheki Cele used to live in Lamontville, he now lives in Durban North and we need people like him to move their votes to the area.” He said they were trying to stop emotional voting. “We find that a person who has moved from say KwaMashu or Umlazi will want to vote in that area and we have realised that this will kill us.”
Ngcobo added that they were also targeting possible ANC voters who lived in the high rise flats that surround Gateway in uMhlanga Rocks.
The DA said it takes these issues very seriously and vowed to ensure that those who have partaken in electoral fraud face the full might of the law.
The political party asked voters to be vigilant on election day, which is 7 May, and report any irregularities to the presiding officer at the voting station.
Ward 35 councillor, Heinz de Boer, said the weekend was extremely successful from a registration perspective, with 1 650 people registering on Sunday, and 950 on Saturday.
“This is a fantastic effort on the part of the voters, whom have really shown that they want to make a difference in the South African political landscape.
“We now need to follow up on this enthusiasm in the lead up to the election. Although I do suspect there were some people who registered in the ward who should not have, its was a small percentage of the overall egistrations,” De Boer said.
