Technical glitch at uMhlanga, Durban North voter registration stations

VOTER registration got off to a slow start at wards 34, 35, 36 and 110 this morning with certain wards picking up towards the afternoon.

When the Northglen News arrived at certain venues, some were either empty or only saw one or two people coming in to register.

READ ALSO: What you need to know ahead of voter registration weekend

Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) officials at the stations and ward councillors, Bongumusa Dludla, Shontel de Boer, Bobby Maharajh and Nicole Bollman said another glitch that had affected registration weekend is that the systems were offline.

Officials were seen capturing resident’s details on pieces of paper.

The IEC said on their Twitter page this morning that they were aware of the malfunction.

“We are aware of an issue with our website which relates to the mapping functionality. We’re working on it and services should resume normally in an hour. Please bear with us. Due to current mapping issues, the VMDs will be capturing off-line while the system mapping detail issue is being resolved. Sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused,” said the IEC.

Four hours later, the IEC retweeted:
“Our VMD network is back up and running. VMDs being restarted and the mapping functionality is restored. Sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused if you were queuing to register or update your address.”

However ward councillors Bollman, de Boer and Maharajh said the system in the wards were not back online in the afternoon.

Ward 35 councillor, Nicole Bollman, said the IEC should have had a back up plan before rolling out the online system this weekend.

“There are so many things that could go wrong. We live in a country with power outages, failing infrastructure and so on. A proper back up plan should have been in place as capturing details on a piece of paper is insufficient,” she said.

She added that the pieces of paper could go missing.

Ward 36 councillor, Shontel de Boer, said she had experienced technical glitches and other problems.

“One resident told me that her father had died in 2008, but his name is still on the voter’s role. She asked the IEC to remove his name, but nothing has been done,” said de Boer.

Another resident’s name had disappeared from the voter’s role completely.

“One person, who had been voting in the same area for over 20 years could not find their name on the role. There were a few people within ward 36 who experienced this problem,” she said.

Ward 110 councillor Bongumusa Dludla said everything had ran smoothly since the morning.

“Rinaldo Park got off to a slow start but it picked up towards the afternoon. I have been in Mt Moriah, Mount Royal and Daleview where people came in their numbers. Things are picking up and the system came back online in the afternoon,” he said.

Bobby Maharajh, ward 34 councillor said Seacow Lake and Kenville stations picked up towards the afternoon.

“The system came back online in Kenville but the others were still offlline. I was concerned with the way details were being captured and I spoke to the IEC area manager about this. She told me the individual who registered will be informed via SMS once the details are registered online. People must look our for this SMS, especially first time voters,” he said.

On a lighter note, the Northglen News chatted to a few residents who were seen at the registration venues this morning.

Janlyn Grobler of Glenhills said she was happy with the overall experience.

“I am new to the area so I had to change my details. Everything went very smoothly except that the systems were offline,” said Grobler.

READ ALSO: Here’s your station for voter registration

Jennifer Farr of Redhill said although she knows that registering to vote can be done online, she preferred to come out.

“It was so quick and efficient and there were no queues. I prefer to come out.” she said.

Kelly Nel of Parkhill,who just turned 18, said she was excited to register to vote for the first time.

“I registered to vote because it is my democratic right. I want to vote for for a leader who will bring about positive change,” she said.

“I am so happy to finally be able to have my say. In the next election, I am hoping for equal job opportunities and better level of education,” said Nel.