The burning topic of irregularities and poor logistics at various voting stations across the country seems to have raised its ugly head in Ward 97 in Roodepoort too.
MMC for Economic Development and Ward 97 councillor, Leah Knott, reflected on some of the challenges that hampered the smoothness and legitimacy of the elections in the ward.
The Section 24a policy, which has created controversy and doubt about the legitimacy of the elections, was one of the main issues that the ward encountered.
“There were not enough Section 24 forms for people who were registered elsewhere to complete,” she said.
The form, according to IEC policies, allowed persons registered anywhere within the province to vote at any station, provided they completed the form.
However, Leah was not impressed with the shortage of these forms, or the allegations that some people had duplicated their votes. “We had a few cases where people who came in to vote had already been crossed off the voters’ roll, but they claimed to have not voted yet and didn’t have marked thumbs,” she said.
“The IEC should be better prepared if they inform people that they can vote anywhere in their province,” she advised.
She indicated that as a result of the abovementioned policy, the Avalon Steve Jobs School had twice the number of people voting there than were registered.
She added as well that at Panorama Sports Club, the second tent was only delivered on the morning after voting had started. “But,” she said, “the Presiding Officer there was amazing and queues were managed very well”.
Among other glitches, Leah said scanners ran out of paper, and some stations needed more zip-zip machines than others.
An observer at the one of stations in Ward 97, who wished to remain anonymous, believed most of the glitches could have been avoided. “I think we are at a stage where we need to move from the technology we are using to something better, because Section 24a allowed people to jump from one station to another. We had a station with 700 people on the voter’s roll but we ended up assisting over 1 000,” the observer explained.
