IEC (Duncan Alfreds, News24)
A video purporting to show people divided along race in two separate voting queues in the Western Cape, has been rubbished by the provincial election head.
Courtney Sampson, Western Cape IEC head, says the now viral video shot at a Wellington voting station, was, in fact, depicting a logistical decision by election officials to accommodate students filling in VEC4 forms.
A VEC4 is a form that is used by the IEC to accommodate voters who are not voting in the voting station that they are registered in.
Social media was abuzz on Wednesday as the video did the rounds showing two lines of voters apparently separated along racial lines in the Western Cape.
The original post on Facebook, which has been shared over 7 000 times, reads, "Racism in Western Cape (Wellington) will never end???????? They say black people should stand in their own line and whites should also do their own line. What the f*ck is that? This is our Country , we are all equal. We should be treated in the same way as White people. They even gave us our own Ballot Box for our votes, maybe they won’t even consider our votes??maybe they will throw them away?? These people don’t take us serious??"
Sampson said the students seen in the second line were applying through VEC forms to vote at that station, because they were not originally registered there.
"The information that we have just received is that it [separate lines] did happen but the intention of the action was that there were students who were registered in one place, and then they were applying to register or to vote at the adjoining place," he told the media at the Western Cape results centre.
"Because of this practical arrangement, the students were asked to stand on one side because of the fact that they were now applying and had to fill in the VEC4 forms while the other people didn't have to do that. So instead of clogging up the whole system, they were kept aside and continued with filling in the VEC4 forms."
"The explanation actually makes sense to me," added Sampson.
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