Capetonians gathered at their nearest voting stations on Monday, November 2 to cast their votes in the local government elections. According to reports, a considerable amount of people were turned away at several voting locations as they were not on the voter’s roll.
IOL reported that residents from various areas in Cape Town were left frustrated and highly disappointed after being were turned away. About 26 people were turned away at a voting station in Retreat, IOL mentioned.
One man who asked to remain anonymous told Cape {town} Etc that along with his family they went to the Bloubergrant High School, a venue where they have been voting for the last few years, but was told by the staff on duty that his father, mother and sister were registered to vote at this location, but he was registered to vote at another location in another province.
“Therefore I was not allowed to vote at all. This also happened to another lady in front of me in the queue. She also had been voting at the same venue the previous years but was told they could not find her details on the system and therefore another person who could not place their vote,” the man said.
According to the disappointed resident, none of the staff couldn’t offer him assistance on how he can register to vote for future elections. “I believe it is our absolute right to vote and not being able to vote due to such an systematic error is unforgivable and should not happen,” the man expressed.
One social media user also took to Facebook to express her frustrations after her daughter, who was expected to vote for the first time, was turned away for not being registered.
Read also: Zille opens case of assault after allegedly being dragged out of voting station
However, spokesperson for the IEC in the Western Cape, Trevor Davids, told Cape {town} Etc that there were incidents of people being turned away at voting stations because their names were not on the voter’s roll.
“You can only vote in an area where you are registered. If you have moved to another area and your details have not been updated yet you can’t vote there,” Davids explained.
Meanwhile, voters not on the voter’s roll contributed to the low voter turnout in the Western Cape as there were 3.1 million registered voters in the province but by 2 pm on Monday, reports indicated that only over 500 000 people cast their vote.
In the meantime, Western Cape IEC officer Michael Hendrickse has expressed his concerns regarding the low voting count, stating that there were seven incidents of load shedding reported. “This is not limited to a station per se but an area which the station has been located,” Hendrickse said.
Watch the live elections update here:
As votes are currently being tallied, Eskom has also announced that they may be implementing loadshedding on Tuesday, November 2 should any further breakdowns occur. The power utility said in a statement that their power system is severely constrained and loadshedding may be necessary should there be any further generation breakdowns.
Loadshedding may be implemented at short notice should any further
breakdowns occur; Eskom requests the public to reduce the usage of electricity as the power system is severely constrained pic.twitter.com/ZEcDw1ZFOx— Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) November 2, 2021
Also read:
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery