ADAM SEGE, Louise Flanagan and Beauregard Tromp
The Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto’s Ward 24 lacks electricity, but two lights shone brightly there last night.
As election workers counted votes, several dozen residents sang and danced around a small fire nearby.
One of the residents celebrating was Lucky Ngobeni, who had campaigned for ward councillor as an independent socialist candidate, challenging the ANC’s control. And, according to Ngobeni, they had made a strong statement. He said his supporters had topped the ANC at this polling station.
Regardless of the final result in the ward, Ngobeni said they would continue to push the government to deliver for the community.
“It’s going to be a struggle,” he said. “We’re still going to fight for more housing.”
Residents listed housing, sanitation, and the poor condition of roads as key problems.
“There’s no service delivery,” said Lindiwe Ngubeni, 24. “We’re still using the bucket system and communal taps.”
Several residents said electricity should be the government’s first priority.
“Can you imagine, in 2011, you’re still charging a phone with a generator?” asked Andile Jujuwa.
Ngobeni said the community had been hurt by a lack of transparency in the government and a disconnect between politicians and residents.
“They don’t even come and hold meetings with us,” he said.
As a socialist candidate, he had campaigned on a platform of sharing resources. He pledged that, if elected, he would donate part of his salary towards community improvement efforts.
Two hours after voting closed, hundreds of Gauteng stations were still dealing with queues of voters.
The Independent Electoral Commission allows those who are in the queues at the cut-off time of 7pm to vote, regardless of how long that takes.
By 9.30pm, there were more than 500 Gauteng voting stations still processing voters.
Gauteng IEC spokesman Moss Pitso said there were 250 Ekurhuleni stations still open, 183 in Joburg and 80 in Tshwane.
He said the biggest queues were in Joubert Park in central Joburg; Protea Glen Ext 11, Chiawelo and Orlando informal settlement in Soweto; and in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni. These stations are routinely very busy during elections due to the population density.
“We are hoping that by midnight, if not by 10pm, they will all be closed,” said Pitso. He said this would be earlier than in previous elections.
He said some stations had opened 30 to 60 minutes late yesterday morning, but that the main reason for the stations running late was the late arrival of voters.
The delays in opening – mainly in the Joburg area – were due to delays in auditing the ballot papers before they left the warehouse.
This year, the ballot papers were printed for specific voting stations, and the ballot packs had to be checked by auditors before leaving the warehouse, to ensure the correct papers were sent.
“This year, we had to print 520 different ballot papers for Gauteng,” Pitso explained.
ANC head of elections Ngoako Ramatlhodi said there were concerns regarding the delays, including at Midvaal and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, where long queues saw voting continue after dark.
“In Midvaal, long queues are a good sign for us, but there have been very long queues. And in Khayelitsha we have reports of no electricity,” said Ramatlhodi.
After the release of the first batch of results last night, politicians and political analysts scurried back and forth between television and radio stations, pausing briefly to be interviewed by newspaper reporters as a boom microphone and a camera swooped between the rows of party representatives and IEC officials seated on the main floor of the National Results Operation Centre in Pretoria.