OFFICIALS from the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) assigned to officiate at a voting station at Mooiplaats informal settlement were sent packing by a group of people on Saturday.
The group, which claimed to represent the community, expressed disappointment at "unfulfilled promises" by the provincial Human Settlements Department and the City of Tshwane to relocate them to new RDP houses at Extension 27 in Olievenhoutbosch.
Their pent-up anger was directed at IEC officials tasked with facilitating the voter registration process.
Chaos broke out at the voting station after some community members ordered officials to leave.
Police were summoned to ease the tension, but they were prevented from keeping the voting station open by the protesters who refused to back down.
Eventually the officials walked out of the station while escorted by police. The group told those who wanted to register or double-check their details to go home.
South African National Civic Organisation leader in the area, Petrus Chabalala, said the community was unhappy with poor services such as water, housing and electricity.
“They want President Cyril Ramaphosa to come and address them about houses in Extension 27,” he said.
For years the community has been fighting with backyard dwellers in Olievenhoutbosch who have illegally occupied houses since December 2017.
Those who occupied houses claimed they did so after the government delayed the process to allocate the properties to rightful beneficiaries.
Both people in Mooiplaats and Olievenhoutbosch believed they were the rightful owners of the houses.
Chabalala said: “Every year the government announces a budget for people in Mooiplaats, but it is eventually directed to Olievenhoutbosch.
"This place has been in existence for more than 40 years, but it has nothing.” He said people boycotted the voters' registration because they had no reason to register and vote.
“We chased away the IEC officials because we stand to lose nothing by not voting. We don’t want political parties because they failed us.
“Our municipality is under the DA, which had done nothing for us. We want the president to come down and talk to us,” he said. IEC chairperson Glen Mashinini appealed to communities in hotspot areas not to conflate issues at municipalities with the general election.
On Saturday the IEC reported that approximately 99% of the 22925 voting stations opened on time, and there had been a steady stream of eligible voters wanting to register and update their details.
The registration was affected by sporadic community protests which affected the opening and operations of several voting stations around the country. IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela said: “Reports have been received of voting stations which were unable to open on time due to access to the station being prevented by protest action including barricaded roads.”
She said among the challenges experienced by registration officials at the start of the final registration weekend included dealing with inclement weather conditions in a number of provinces which had affected access to voting stations, especially due to flooding or impassable roads.
“In particular, voting stations located in tents were affected by strong winds and heavy rains in the eastern Free State, parts of Gauteng, the coastal regions of KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Limpopo,” Bapela said.