American college students visited polling districts along the Atlantic seaboard as impartial observers during last week’s elections.
The lead director of the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership at Morehouse College, Professor Jann Adams, noted that although they visited South Africa every year, this trip had been timed to align with the elections.
“This trip is part of the study-abroad programmes, and this is the Oprah Winfrey South Africa leadership programme. The programme is social-justice focused and leadership-development-focused experience, and this is a really special opportunity for us and to observe your elections,” said Professor Adams.
The voting procedure was comparable to that in America, said Professor Sinead Younge, director of social justice inquiry and praxis at the Andrew Young Center for Global Leadership.
“It’s an efficient process as you can see people going in and coming out. People were excited to vote, and it was definitely an efficient process,” said Professor Younge, referring to the Sea Point voting station.
However, ward councillor Nicola Jowell said the voter management device at voting stations had been offline for lengthy periods.
“It was often an issue around connectivity, but at times their batteries were flat too, and they were not able to charge them. At 8am at Sea Fisheries, this caused a considerable delay as they struggled to get hold of a printed voters roll,” said Ms Jowell.
“There were also many reports of voters only being given one ballot – the national ballot, although they were fully and properly registered at the right voting station,” she said.
“We also know that with the manual system of checking the voters roll, many voters were not located on the manual roll and were turned away from voting, although the IEC’s system showed that they were registered there. In many instances, we were able to point out and assist the IEC and these were resolved.”
At Schotsche Kloof Primary School in Bo-Kaap, Muhammad Makgotlho, 21, voted for the first time.
“I’m part of the youth, and we have a lot to say on social media so I think this is a step in actually doing something about the things we talk about online,” he said.
Another first-time voter, Ofentse Makgotlho, 18, from Bo-Kaap, said: “I’m in touch with what’s happening in the country, and I’ve been wanting to vote… We, the youth, need to make the changes, and I see mostly old people here and less youths.”
Jamie Scott, 26, said: “There is a lot of influence on social media, and I did not want to follow what is being said. The vibe on social media is that people are done with the ANC, but I did my own research so I am informed.”
This election has seen a sharp drop in support for the ANC, which for the first time has lost its majority, forcing it to seek coalition partners to form a government. With all the votes counted, the ANC has 40.18% of votes nationally, followed by the DA with 21.81% and MK with 14.58%.
In the Western Cape, the DA won with 53.41% of the vote, the ANC got 19.79% and the PA came in third with 7.84%.
