Five voting stations in parts of the province remain closed.
This was revealed by the Independent Electoral Commission shortly after 12pm on Wednesday.
At around 9am, nine stations had not yet opened their doors to allow aspiring voters to make their mark.
Voting started at 7am in some of the 4,686 voting stations across the province, but by midday, Nokhatshile SPS in Winnie Madikizela-Mandela municipality, Buhlambo in Ntabankulu, Maggie in Port St Johns, Sidanda in Nyandeni and Mavundleni in King Sabata Dalindyebo remained closed.
This was due to community protests.
A total of 32 voting stations didn’t open on time.
Provincial electoral officer Kayakazi Magudumana said appealed to the municipalities to intervene.
She said the communities are not allowing officials to administer voting processes.
“I’m appealing to every leader and manager to address these people so that we can do our work.
“It is painful to work hard for months and to fail on a matter that could be resolved by talking to our people.
“I’m humbling myself that leaders go to these communities. Go and address them so we can do our work.
“It is a different story if we are open and those that want to go in go in and those that don’t want to go in remain protesting. We have lost a lot of time,” Magudumana said.
Cogta MEC Zolile Williams said: “We commend our teams for good work done to open the stations for our people to cast their votes.
“Let law enforcement structures stamp their authority without fear or favour to secure free and fair elections. No-one should be allowed to prevent communities from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
Protesters keep five Eastern Cape voting stations closed
Image: SINO MAJANGAZA
Five voting stations in parts of the province remain closed.
This was revealed by the Independent Electoral Commission shortly after 12pm on Wednesday.
At around 9am, nine stations had not yet opened their doors to allow aspiring voters to make their mark.
Voting started at 7am in some of the 4,686 voting stations across the province, but by midday, Nokhatshile SPS in Winnie Madikizela-Mandela municipality, Buhlambo in Ntabankulu, Maggie in Port St Johns, Sidanda in Nyandeni and Mavundleni in King Sabata Dalindyebo remained closed.
This was due to community protests.
A total of 32 voting stations didn’t open on time.
Provincial electoral officer Kayakazi Magudumana said appealed to the municipalities to intervene.
She said the communities are not allowing officials to administer voting processes.
“I’m appealing to every leader and manager to address these people so that we can do our work.
“It is painful to work hard for months and to fail on a matter that could be resolved by talking to our people.
“I’m humbling myself that leaders go to these communities. Go and address them so we can do our work.
“It is a different story if we are open and those that want to go in go in and those that don’t want to go in remain protesting. We have lost a lot of time,” Magudumana said.
Cogta MEC Zolile Williams said: “We commend our teams for good work done to open the stations for our people to cast their votes.
“Let law enforcement structures stamp their authority without fear or favour to secure free and fair elections. No-one should be allowed to prevent communities from exercising their constitutional right to vote.
“We condemn barricading of roads and digging up trenches to raise community concerns. Government has a plethora of public participation mechanisms accessible to everyone to resolve any service delivery concerns.
“We still have a long way to go in our quest towards a better life for all as water and rural road infrastructure provisioning remains our priority areas in a Province as rural as the Eastern Cape.
“Equally important, is that the intimidation of IEC staff must end,” Williams said.
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