Glitches at Umhlanga polling station as special voting gets underway

Some 624,000 voters are expected to be visited by IEC staff at their homes on Monday and Tuesday, with the rest of the special voters casting their ballots at their voting stations. 

In KZN, more than 320,000 thousand South Africans have been approved for special votes. 

Newswatch visited a polling station in Umhlanga on Monday.

As Newswatch arrived at Ward 35's NG Kerk voting station, we were met by a line of elderly voters waiting to make their mark.

But special voting at this station got off to a delayed start.

ALSO READ: Early voting underway in South African elections

It’s understood one of the issues was around the order of the names on the list. 

So, there are delays across the board. It’s not just at that church,” ward councillor Nicolle Bollman explained.

“The voter’s roll is not in alphabetical order, so whenever they are looking for a person, they have to sift through all the people in order to find the person that they are looking for. 

“The second issue is that people who have been approved for a special vote on the IEC website are not reflected on the website at all."  

Despite the delays, one voter told Newswatch she's determined to make her mark. 

"The queue was outside in the sun. They after half an hour, brought some chairs for us to sit on, and then I realised we were in for a long wait. All-in-all, this initial part has been badly organised."

Local resident Mr Mohan believes the setting could have been better.

"I must say, when I saw this queue, I just lost hope. The reason is we are elderly people.  Someone was kind enough to offer me a seat, so I came and sat here, and I still say it should be more friendly for elderly people, and I'm sure each one of them is anxious; some of them are on medication, if not most of them."  

Special voting at all stations closes at 5 pm.

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