Elections 2024: What role do party agents play?

John Perlman speaks to the Democratic Alliance's Nicholas Godsell, a party agent at Jan Van Riebeeck Primary School in Cape Town. 

Listen below.

Each political party participating in the election can appoint two party agents to be present at a voting station or counting venue. 

Their role is to observe that everything happening at the respective station is accurate and running smoothly.

This includes everything from ballot box assembly to ballot tallies.

“We got here quite early to make sure that we can observe the unpacking of the boxes and ballots.”

- Nicholas Godsell, DA Party Agent – Western Cape

“… our role is to make sure that we know how many ballots are issued to see whether there would be enough so that they don’t run out halfway through the day."  

- Nicholas Godsell, DA Party Agent – Western Cape

"We [also] can count at the end of the day to see what the balance is of those that have been cast and how many are left.”

- Nicholas Godsell, DA Party Agent – Western Cape

Godsell says despite agents representing rival parties, his experience has been good and everyone gets on well. 

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview