Babalo Ndenze29 May 2024 | 5:06

Minor glitches to two-day special voting in Gqeberha

Voters at the Sherwood NG Kerk voting station, one of the biggest in the city, also had to cast their ballots well after the allocated time because the voters roll was not in alphabetical order. 

Minor glitches to two-day special voting in Gqeberha

Picture: Abigail Javier/Eyewitness News

GQEBERHA - Special voting in Gqeberha in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro didn't go entirely smoothly in the town's biggest special voting station.

The last two days of special voting were also marred by delays at the Joe Slovo informal settlement, where a bus was torched by protesting residents.

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Voters at the Sherwood NG Kerk voting station, one of the biggest in the city, also had to cast their ballots well after the allocated time because the voters roll was not in alphabetical order. 

The station expects 5,000 voters on Wednesday according to party agent Margaret De Andrade.

“Yesterday [Monday] was a bit of chaos. However, the IEC [Electoral Commission of South Africa] came forward and this [Tuesday] morning brought an alphabetic list to the station, which made it better as there's no queue at the moment.”

Avela Wana, who used his special vote because of his disability, said it all went smoothly but still hopes for change.

“I've never been so excited by this. It's not my first time to vote, but changes I've been hoping for have never happened.”

Wednesday morning will see thousands more in the metro heading to the polls, including the likes of former Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor-turned-African Congress (ANC) member Nqaba Bhanga.