IEC is one of those South African institutions that are truly world class with kind and keen volunteer marshals.
A voter casts her vote at a voting station in Pretoria Easton 2 November 2026. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen
When half the country went to the polls and the other half just took the day off last Wednesday, there appeared an electoral chimera at the Blairgowrie Recreation Centre – a fully crewed refuse truck ponderously reversing all the way up to the voting station, past the throngs of citizens queuing to make their mark.
It’s easy to become disheartened; many South Africans obviously were last week, seeing no upside in supporting the ANC, though uninspired by the alternatives.
But there was plenty to inspire, whether you voted or not.
The elections ran fairly seamlessly. It’s something we take for granted in this country.
The post office used to be in every city and town, although the less said about that now, the better.
Banks used to have branches in every dorp and village, but most of them have moved to apps and are even trying to get out of ATMs, leaving what feels like only Pep Stores and, every four years, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), actually operating countrywide.
The volunteers are brought together, tents are pitched, school and community halls are transformed, the boxes are put out and the cardboard voting stations set up.
There’s bickering, but given the increasing complexity of our elections – 620 registered political parties contesting 10 526 council seats with 43% more candidates – this was a good showing.
The IEC is one of those South African institutions that are truly world class.
Their volunteer marshals are kind and keen, which you don’t often see among public servants – and they are alive to the needs of their clients, the voters.
Who can forget the video last week shot in Gonubie of an IEC marshal asking the queue of voters for permission to let the erstwhile mayor of Buffalo City Princess Faku jump the line?
For those who didn’t see it, the answer, by two different groups, was no, so he returned to the first lady and told her to take her place at the back.
Congratulations to her and to him and to the voters. You’d be hard pressed to think of anywhere else in the world where that would happen.
On Sunday, the refuse trucks finally made their way through the suburb after almost a month’s absence, another glimmer of hope.
Will it take as long for the political parties to find common ground to form a working coalition to govern Africa’s world-class city?
