DURBAN - The first day of special voting on Saturday has seen several leaders of political parties cast their special votes in various parts of KwaZulu-Natal, with DA leader Francois Rodgers casting his special vote in his hometown of Kokstad, in the Harry Gwala District Municipality.
Rodgers appealed to all those registered for special votes to turn out and cast their votes while also calling for those registered to vote on election day on Monday to also head to the polling stations to exercise their right to vote.
“Get out there, cast your vote, cast your vote for the DA that gets things done and let’s turn our municipalities around,” Rodgers said.
Other leaders who have also cast their votes today include the ANC’s Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma casting her vote in Ballito, north of Durban, before heading out to inspect voting stations around Durban.
Leaders of the IFP, the official opposition in KZN, were also scattered across various parts of the province to cast their votes. IFP Deputy President Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi was in uPhongolo, north of KZN.
IFP National Chairperson Blessed Gwala headed to uMlalazi Local Municipality, in the King Cetshwayo District in the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal, where he cast his vote at Nyathini Primary School, while IFP Provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli was in Nkandla where he voted at the Vumanhlamvu Hall.
The commission’s KZN spokesperson Thabani Ngwira said that most voting stations throughout the province opened on time at 8am for the administration of the 167 307 approved special votes, with the exception of a few in municipalities where the delivery of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) was delayed due to trucks being caught up in the inclement weather experienced in the province yesterday afternoon.
“The affected municipalities are in uMgungundlovu, Ugu, uThukela and King Cetshwayo districts. However, PPEs did eventually reach all the affected voting stations and voting commenced,” Ngwira said.
He added that incidents involving the disruption of the electoral process were reported in at least four municipalities in the province, include Mkhambathini Municipality in the KwaNyavu Traditional Area where some members of the community threatened electoral staff into not opening seven voting stations in wards 2 and 3 due to a dispute surrounding the legitimacy of the current iNkosi.
“Supporters of someone purporting to be a legitimate Inkosi but allegedly overlooked by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs are deemed to be behind the threats.
“Padlocks were put overnight to block access to the seven affected voting stations and a threatening note was left at the voting station gates for voters who dared to operate these voting stations today,” Ngwira said.
He said that SAPS intervened swiftly and broke the locks, however, voting station staff were too intimidated to continue working, citing fear of being targeted by the disgruntled community members afterwards.
“SAPS had, however, reinforced their presence in the affected voting stations to ensure voters are not unduly disenfranchised,” Ngwira added.