- Load shedding, coupled with bad weather conditions have contributed to a low voter turnout in Cape Town.
- Western Cape IEC officer Michael Hendricks said there were seven incidents of load shedding reported.
- Throughout the day, complaints were received about people being turned away because of not being on the voters' roll.
The last 12 hours of voting in the Western Cape on Monday were marred by power outages and inclement weather conditions, affecting turnout at stations.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in the province said turnout, as of 17:00 on Monday afternoon, stood at 25%.
With polling stations closed, and long snaking queues still formed outside some voting stations, the IEC reiterated that voters who were already in queues would be allowed to vote, but that no one else would be allowed to join the queues.
IEC provincial officer Michael Hendricks said it was still too early to say whether the turnout was low or not.
He said:
In 2016, the voter turnout was 57% nationally.
Hendricks said there were seven power outages reported, but that the City of Cape Town had managed to assist. Hendricks added that cable theft was an issue.
"We also received complaints of not enough ballot papers. We can assure the public there were enough ballot papers at all our stations. We were at a stage doing a process where we looked at the number of ballot papers based on the voters' roll," he said.
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Throughout the day, complaints had been received regarding voters being turned away because of not being on the roll, and of the vote management system not working.
"Voters will be turned away if they are not registered and if they did not apply for registration on the registration weekend. You cannot simply claim to be registered if you have no proof. We are going out of our way to assist voters," Hendricks said.
He added that the turnout for municipal elections was traditionally very low, compared to national elections.
"This could be attributed also to the voter simply saying that they don't want to vote, because it is ultimately up to the voter to decide."
Stay updated with News24's latest coverage, opinion and analysis of Elections 2021. Check out results from the previous municipal elections.
