Police minister Bheki Cele was upbeat after casting his vote at Lamontville High School in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, which opened slightly late on Wednesday.
“We are at Lamontville High where the queues are quite long. We have scanned the country this morning, and up to this point it doesn't look like we have a major problem, except somewhere in the Eastern Cape where one station has been closed and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has withdrawn its staff,” Cele said.
He said they had sent more police to the area.
“The issue there is the community itself has taken the decision not to vote.”
WATCH | Police minister Bheki Cele votes in Durban
Police minister Bheki Cele was upbeat after casting his vote at Lamontville High School in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, which opened slightly late on Wednesday.
“We are at Lamontville High where the queues are quite long. We have scanned the country this morning, and up to this point it doesn't look like we have a major problem, except somewhere in the Eastern Cape where one station has been closed and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has withdrawn its staff,” Cele said.
He said they had sent more police to the area.
“The issue there is the community itself has taken the decision not to vote.”
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Cele said while most stations were generally operating as normal, the Lamontville station opened 30 minutes late.
“We believe everything will be OK. Obviously temperatures will be up but as long as people keep within the law and make noise within the law.”
Cele said police were on standby to escort IEC staff with ballot papers to counting stations, adding “communication must be improved by the IEC to make the call to the police service”.
TimesLIVE
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