Thea Rix takes Ward 15, voices concerns about voting day
"I feel the voter turnout for the municipal elections was good, but not quite good enough. There were many people who felt their vote would not make a difference so they didn't come out," said Thea Rix.
Known as the first port of call for any municipal issues in the Lowveld, community activist turned ward councillor Thea Rix is thrilled to have won her ward.
Rix, who participated in her first local municipal elections since announcing her decision to run for DA councillor in the area a few months ago, learned late yesterday afternoon that she had won Ward 15 by miles.
“I am so excited to be able to live out my passion and be able to make more of a difference and help the community of Mbombela,” said an excited Rix.
“I feel the voter turnout for the municipal elections was good, but not quite good enough. There were many people who felt their vote would not make a difference so they didn’t come out,” said Rix.
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“What is concerning to me is the number of people who came to vote at Laerskool Laeveld and were told they could not, because they were not registered at that station. I feel I may have lost maybe 50 votes just at that voting station due to people not being able to make their mark.”
She said the feedback she had received from community members not being able to vote was that they were furious.
“It appears the IEC at the Laerskool Laeveld station did not know about the MEC 7 forms, which would allow one to vote if they did not appear on the voters’ roll.
“Many people were turned away without the opportunity to fill out these forms and I ended up calling the IEC who had management come down and talk to the staff at the station on how to use the forms and so on,” alleged Rix
She said this only happened at about 11:00 on Monday and was unsure of how many people came back to the station to vote using the MEC 7 forms.
A provincial IEC communications officer, Tanduxolo Chembeni, explained that an MEC 7 form is used when voters come to a station and upon producing their IDs and checking for their names on the voters’ roll, they do not appear.
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“Then we request the voters to provide proof of their application to register in the form of a sticker sourced from the zip-zip machine. If the person produces the proof and the it meets all the requirements of registration, the voter will be issued with an MEC 7 form to complete and sign, after which the person will be allowed to vote,” said Chembeni.
He said the requirements include being 18 and older, being a South African citizen with a valid ID number, being registered in the correct voting district and having applied before the proclamation date.
“If all four of these requirements are met, the MEC 7 form will be safely kept for reconciliation purposes.
Chembeni added that a large number of voters voted through the MEC 7 forms.
He said when it came to the registration of new addresses, but where changes had not been made, the MEC 7 form was used.
Queries regarding Laerskool Laeveld IEC officials not knowing about the MEC 7 forms had not been responded to at the time of going to press.
Visit the IEC website to lay any complaints or queries.
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