Ward 97 councillor, Andre Beetge has lambasted the Independent Electoral Committee (IEC) for being for what he termed “unprepared” for last week’s national and provincial elections. Beetge said in Amanzimtoti many of the voting stations had administration problems, forcing some to open well past the 7am opening time and IEC staff appeared independently and insufficiently trained.
At the Lion’s Club in Warner Beach people who registered for a special vote, had to wait until 9.45am for doors to open, 45 minutes later than scheduled. At Amanzimtoti Civic Centre the doors were only opened after 7.23am causing a doctor, who was in line to vote at 7am, to report late to theatre to perform an operation.
At Kusakusa Primary School in Ezimbokodweni and Kuswag Skool there was no paper for the zip zip machines (used to scan ID barcodes and issue voters with a voting number) from Monday and this had still not been rectified by Wednesday morning, with officials forced to issue hand written numbers, leaving an open opportunity to commit fraud.
IEC officials loaded many Toti pensioner’s special vote applications as ‘walk-ins’ as opposed to ‘home visits’. When Beetge pointed this out and requested the IEC to correct their errors, it was refused. In a last minute attempt to get the pensioners to vote, he asked an IEC presiding officer to contact them via telephone to alert them to the error and guide them towards the station they needed to get to. Despite numbers being available, the request was likewise refused with indication that those who applied were aware that they needed to come and that it was not the IEC’s responsibility to alert them.
READ ALSO: Boxes of ballot papers discovered at voting station after election day
At Mooi Hawens close on 100 pensioners who were approved for a home visit never cast their vote and IEC officials just didn’t pitch. When Beetge enquired, the IEC presiding officer indicated that the pensioners must have gone away on holiday or to visit their children. Enquiries however confirmed this to be totally void of the truth.
“IEC staff members were just not properly trained. They were also extremely slow – at one station only four votes were processed for an entire day,” said Beetge. “A lot of people complained about the process, and the lack of training or lack of knowledge shown by IEC officials. This was not isolated to our area, as much the same reports came from my colleagues across the city and province.
“Presiding officers were inconsistent in their decision making and it appeared as if they made answers up as they went along, as opposed to gaining knowledge from relevant legislation. While I make a point of carrying a copy of the act with me, it remains a constant obstacle to convince officials that their interpretation is indeed incorrect.”
“As this was a national and provincial election, voters could cast their vote at any station, regardless of where they were registered to vote. However, they needed to fill in an appendix four form if they voted elsewhere,” added Beetge. Some stations did not have these forms and at 11am Beetge was alerted to voters once again being turned away at Warner Beach and told to instead go to their registered stations as failing, they could not cast their vote. When Beetge investigated and having confirmed the reason as being that there were actually no forms in the entire district, he personally supplied the IEC with 3 000 forms to enable stations to continue rendering the option to voters across the district.
READ ALSO: Youth vandalise Warner Beach school on voting day
“Most voting stations did not have enough stationery. Scanners were not working or they had no paper to issue slips, forcing officials to only mark people off the voters’ roll, which meant people could possibly vote again as the zip zip machines are not recording in real time. The ink used to mark a voter’s left thumb was easily wiped off, which left us speculating whether the IEC was actually geared up for the day.”
Beetge’s one son, who was registered to vote at the civic centre, chose to vote at Doon Heights Primary School as it was much quieter. Irrespective of not appearing on the voters’ roll at the specific station, he was not only allowed to vote, but was given no form to fill in nor was his finger inked, which meant he could have easily voted again at another station.
“Another son was refused entry at civic centre because he was wearing a DA-branded T-shirt and was only allowed in when he turned his shirt inside out. This in contrast to other stations where people were allowed in wearing other party-branded clothes. “In some rural voting stations they were handing out party-branded T-shirts to people waiting in line. People wearing their shirts were entering via the exit and taking photos in the voting hall. It appears that only in the urban areas where people are less sympathetic to the governing party, were they turned away. As you are allowed to vote in any clothes, this was nothing more that a petty effort to antagonise people, as some did not return after being told to go and change,” explained Beetge.
“Despite our personal efforts to effect positive change to the larger Amanzimtoti area, results were slightly different from the 2014 election and in favour of parties on both the left and right of the political spectrum. Across the four ward 97 voting stations, the DA dropped from 77.70 percent in 2014 to 67.31 percent in 2019, while the ANC gained from 14.66 percent to 16.48 percent, the FF+ from 2.64 percent to 7.31 percent and EFF from 0.68 percent to 3.01 percent. In ward 93, the ANC dropped from 68.84 percent in 2014 to 56.89 percent in 2019, the DA gained marginally from 23.19 percent to 23.93 percent, FF+ from 0.90 percent to 2.23 percent and EFF from 1.93 percent to 11.03 percent.”
Beetge expressed disappointment not so much in those who chose a different allegiance this time round, but rather in those who did not turn out for the vote but chose to rather use the public holiday for recreational purposes yet remaining on the complaint list about why the country is not being run to expectation.
He was surprised that certain voting stations were fully counted by midnight, while other rural stations with the same or even less voters, continued counting until sunrise. “Maybe that’s the way to go if you want to ensure a favourable outcome?”
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