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Despite being locked out of voting stations in Vuwani today, IEC staff members made a plan and set up anyway so people could cast their special votes.
It was not clear whether the lock-out was intentional, especially at two places that were public venues.
Voting stations were set up in front of the locked gates outside a satellite municipal office and Tshivhulani Primary School in Vuwani this morning, and voting was done in the blistering sun.
Acting speaker of Vhembe district municipality Rufus Dzuguda Kharadza – who was the first voter at Tshivhulani primary – said he was happy he had voted even if he did it in the open air.
“It was cumbersome, it was done outside ... I have never voted outside but well there was lots of fresh air. I asked them here why [was I voting outside] and they told me the gates were locked,” he said.
Asked how he felt about reports that people would not vote, Kharadza said: “Voting is a free will, those who feel like it will come and those who don’t feel like it won’t come. Even if there was no situation, some people would still not come [and vote].”
Vuwani remained hostile amid heavy police presence today.
Acting national police commissioner Lieutenant General Kgomotso Phahlane said Vuwani stations featured high on their list of 650 “high risk” voting stations countrywide.
This was the reason they had decided to deploy more than 1000 police officers to the area. Police maintained high visibility – even on bikes and in the air – and ensured the formerly barricaded streets were patrolled.
The protesting community had decided to stay away from voting in protest against the border redraft decision that affected Vuwani.
They did not want to be part of a new municipal entity with Malamulele and Hlanganani and would rather remain part of Makhado municipality.
The community will act in defiance of their traditional leaders, who signed an agreement with government that voting would be allowed tomorrow and that processes towards the reversal of the demarcation decision would start two weeks later.
A community leader in Vuwani, Nsovo Sambo, said several communities were organising football matches for voting day.
“They’re planning soccer tournaments where pensioners, gogos and small children will all play instead of going to vote. We’re discouraging any form of violence or intimidation but our position remains clear: no voting for us and people would rather play soccer,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a statement released by the presidency, President Jacob Zuma has urged residents to vote tomorrow.
