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The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) experienced glitches at one of its polling stations in Johannesburg this morning leading to the voting process being delayed.
Voters at the Melpark Primary school, in Melville in Johannesburg, took to social media to express their frustration. Voting was delayed by at least 30 minutes.
Although the IEC presiding officer refused to comment, one of the staffers – who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to address the media – told City Press that the station started operating a little bit late because of a problem involving the identity document scanning machine.
This was resolved quickly when a replacement was secured.
People started queuing to vote from 5.30am, hoping the voting process would begin as early as 7am.
“People came in numbers to cast their vote. They came early around 5.30am but the process started late,” said Angela Barnes, a Democratic Alliance member on the pavement outside the polling station.
“As soon as the process started, the numbers decreased within 30 minutes,” she added.
Talitha Alink expressed her disappointment on her Facebook page: “Voting should start at 7am and every time I vote at Melpark primary it is a joke, they never open on time and they are not organised.”
The security guard at the school said while people were unhappy with the delays, there was no misconduct and that the school premises remained safe during the voting process.
“If something had happened I would have called the police and the principal of the school but these voters seemed happy and there were no threats,” said the security guard, Lazarus Maboke.
