Cape Town - With only a couple of glitches, like some voters showing up at voting stations and their names not appearing on the voters roll, voting machines not working and voting lines not moving fast enough, not even the persistent rain could prevent hundred thousands of voters in the Western Cape from casting their votes.
In many areas people braved the elements and while in parts of Cape Town the determination seemed to peter out by about midday, by evening voters had again picked up the pace to vote.
While he warned that the rain might have an impact on the voting process in some areas of the Metro where temporary structures had been set up as voting stations, provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said voting in the province had begun well with no major pitfalls reported.
Political analyst Daniel Silke said while the inclement weather probably put off some voters from going to vote he didn’t think it would have made a big difference.
“One could argue that the bigger parties, the DA and to some extent the ANC here in the Western Cape, tend to lose when voting numbers are lower.
“But on the other hand, the bigger parties also have logistics available to make it a little easier for voters to get to the polls. Even providing transport for some voters.
“So what they lose on the weather front they make up in terms of their more powerful electioneering machine and logistics,” said Silke.
ANC provincial head of elections Cameron Dugmore said: “The weather in Cape Town and parts of Boland and Overberg is a challenge, but we’ve made plans to pick up voters who would normally walk and remain hopeful that the weather clears later for final push towards 9pm.”
Good party mayoral candidate Brett Herron was also concerned that the weather would impact voter turnout in many communities.
“In many communities the ability to access the voting stations in the rain could be a deterrent. It would be unfortunate if the rain determined the outcome of the election.”
Al Jama-ah mayoral candidate for Cape Town Ganief Hendricks said he was satisfied with voter turnout at the stations he visited in Mitchells Plain, Pinelands and Wynberg.
“Voters have come out in their numbers. We should have a respectable percentage poll. IEC is on the ball,” said Hendricks.
In some areas of the Western Cape political parties raised concerns over voters not appearing on the voters roll.
In parts of Cape Town, voters who had registered a change of address said they were unable to vote because their new information had not being captured.
There were also a number of complaints about the voting management devices (VDMs) at some polling stations, however IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said during a media briefing that the technical glitches were being ironed out and on the whole voting had gone smoothly.
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za