The rising threat of violence at KwaDukuza’s Ward 4 and 5 voting stations, along with isolated cases of residents being denied the chance to vote, have made for some election day issues on the North Coast.

In Shaka’s Head (Ward 4), 1 of 2 identified ‘hot spots’ in KwaDukuza, technical issues delayed the opening of the voting station until around 7.45am, after which it has run continuously.

Tensions were already running high when the Courier visited the station at RA Padayachee primary school this morning, with a group wearing ANC party regalia singing and dancing in the road, blocking traffic.

Umhlali Saps and KwaDukuza Municipality (KDM) community safety officers continue to monitor the situation which was stable as of 4pm. If there are to be incidents, they are likely to be later this evening, said the officers on site.

A similar scene was evident at Lindelani (Ward 5) – the other KwaDukuza ‘hot spot’ – which was quiet this morning despite historically being a hotbed for election violence between the incumbent IFP and ANC. In 2014, ANC volunteer, Winnie Mhlongo was shot and killed on election day.

IFP councillor Enjoy Elphas Dlamini won the ward by-election earlier this year, but the margin of victory indicated that the IFP has lost ground.

Tensions were high this afternoon and police had to separate IFP and ANC supporters at around 2.30pm.

Voters turned away

Reports out of Blythedale voting station indicate that a number of residents who had registered during the voter registration weekend were unable to vote.

iLembe IEC district supervisor, Paul Daniel, confirmed that there had been incidents reported. “We have seen cases where updated registration details were not captured on the IEC database over the registration weekend. Typically residents are issued a receipt and added to the voters roll, giving 2 layers of security.

Unfortunately, there are some voters who were not issued with a receipt who were also not added to the voters roll. This means that there is no way for IEC officials to confirm their registration,” he said.

The residents were turned away, with the risk of fraud being too high even though the cases may be legitimate, he said.

“They are allowed to object to not being allowed to vote, they need to do so at the voting station. This will quantify the issue which can then be dealt with by the IEC.”

More generally however, voting has been smooth across the North Coast, with very few reports of technical difficulties and usually manageable wait times.

At midday today, the IEC announced that just over 3.5 million South Africans had cast their vote – which is around 14% of the registered population.

Add this number to the roughly 500 000 special voters over the weekend and it still looks to be a low turnout this year.

Voting stations are open until 9pm so this number could change dramatically.

The Courier is expecting to be able to deliver you preliminary ward results by tomorrow morning.