Sindi Danisa, 35, and  husband, Sfiso Danisa, 42,their friend Vusi Mbatha, 51 , and son. Melusi Danisa. 26, cast their votes yesterday at the Nquthu Magistrate’s Court, ward 14, in the hope of seeing a change in their town.

Vusi Mbatha, whose is originally from Mngomfongo Village, told the Courier he voted because he was tired of being neglected by the government in terms of infrastructure development as well as water and more service delivery,y like housing which hardly reaches people in the community.

“I hope voting in these elections will help even our youth to get job opportunities because they go away from province to look for job opportunities.,” he said.

The much-anticipate results of the Nquthu by-elections will be announced today.  Early indications are that the IFP has taken 14 of the 17 wards.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says preliminary statistics show that 40% of the 81,000 registered voters cast their ballot in the Nquthu by-elections.

The electoral commission is due to announce the final results this morning where all 33 seats will be filled.

The municipality was dissolved earlier this year due to political in-fighting.

The Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters and Inkatha Freedom Party (IEF) stand to be kingmakers again after there was only one seat difference between the African National Congress (ANC) and IFP during last year’s municipal elections.

The IEC says the voting process has gone smoothly.

Wednesday saw at least 15 incident reports, where political parties complained to the commission but none compromised the integrity of the elections.

KwaZulu-Natal IEC Head Mawethu Mosery says: “Broadly these incidents deal with matters relating to access to voting stations, maybe processes inside the voting stations that they do not follow very well.”

Nomsa Dube-Ncube, MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, will be in Nquthu to oversee the installation of the new Council.