WC IEC head apologises to voters who had to wait into early Thursday to cast votes

CAPE TOWN - Western Cape electoral head Michael Hendrickse has apologised unreservedly to scores of voters who had to stand way into the early hours of Thursday morning to cast their votes.

Still, Hendrickse said he’s heartened by the turnout and that people braved the adverse weather despite the technical hiccups that put a blight on the day.

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The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reports that the last voters in the province were helped by 1 am.

The counting process is now well underway, with the provincial results board quickly ticking over. 

With almost 18% of the vote captured thus far, the Democratic Alliance (DA), African National Congress (ANC), and Patriotic Alliance (PA) are competing for the early gains in the rural areas.

IEC head Michael Hendrickse said the long queues on Wednesday night couldn’t be pinned on the voters.

“I’m also as disappointed and I need to apologise to the public out there because they deserve a better service from the IEC than to have to wait in such long queues. So, clearly, that is something we need to be honest and open and apologise to citizens about.”

Hendrickse said once the instruction was given for staff to switch to the manual voters’ roll, the process picked up.

“It’s not about the public coming out. We wanted them to come. It’s not on them at all. It’s all on the IEC and we have to relook at our organisational systems and how we were processing this.”

Hendrickse said the IEC could have prepared better for being let down by the technology.