The police dispersed protesting residents of the hamlet of Holpan, near Barkly West in the Northern Cape, on Wednesday morning after they disrupted voting.
The IEC’s Maruping Wildebees said some locals of the town - which has about 600 residents and 300 registered voters - tried to stop voting in a protest against poor service delivery.
Some residents in Holpan outside Barkley West, Northern Cape have tried to stop voting in their community due to a lack of service delivery, while others are adamant they want to vote. When stones came flying, police on the scene reacted. #SAElections2019 @eNCA @eNuus pic.twitter.com/6z6SKjklOV
— Stefan Goosen (@rabidjourno) May 8, 2019
#eNCANow: Residents of Holpan in the Northern Cape took to the streets this morning to raise service delivery concerns. Chaos erupted between police and residents, with rubber bullets being fired. #Election2019 pic.twitter.com/qSs0EZIO9r
— eNCA (@eNCA) May 8, 2019
The voting station, which was set to open at 7am, only opened at 9am after the police dispersed protestors with stun grenades.
“We have not received any update of any disruption which has happened lately. This morning the community was really adamant that the voting station shouldn’t be opened, but with the help of the police we were able to open the station and negotiations are continuing,” said Wildebees.
No injuries were reported to the IEC, but eNCA reported that one of their camera crew was struck by a rock.
