‘Our problem is one — the IEC’: students and experts criticise election body for voting blunders

Lack of resources, an overwhelming number of political parties and misunderstanding of voter registration requirements are possible reasons for some of the delays and glitches faced by the Electoral Commission (IEC) on voting day, leading to criticism about the election body.

The IEC has come under fire for remaining open past the 9pm closing time on voting day, with many waiting more than five hours to make their mark. Scores of voters only placed their votes after midnight. The last vote was captured at 3am in Arcadia, Pretoria.

At the University of Witswatersrand’s main campus, a voting station attracted throngs of voters who joined a winding queue in the cold, with many resilient youth and students refusing to leave until they made their mark.

Wits SRC president Bukisa Boniswa said the delays were caused by glitches with the online system.

“There were a lot of glitches with the system so we had to go manual for the entire day. The IEC was not prepared because when we looked at the section 24A applicants and new approved registrations, there was a disjuncture and a problem. It was frustrating and they were not prepared. We made sure students stayed in the lines. I did my best to help the IEC and make sure the manual system went seamlessly,” she told TimesLIVE Premium.

She said the campus’ voting station closed just after midnight, while the counting was completed by 9am.

“The students came out in numbers and I am proud of everyone. I think it is important that young people wanted to participate in these elections. For most, 2024 was our 1994 and I am happy with the outcome,” she said.

Students at the University of Limpopo’s voting station queued between five and seven hours to cast their votes as it took more than 15 minutes for IEC officials to locate a name on the voter’s roll, said SRC president Khutso Mamabolo.

Mamabolo said he arrived at 6.30am to be among the first to vote but only made it to the booth at 10.20am, an hour after the voting station opened. The more than two-hour delay was caused by late delivery of ballot papers, booths and stationery and a glitch in the system when the first three people tried to vote, he said.

“When they started, there was a problem of them being slow. You find that it takes 15 to 20 minutes to find you on the voters’ roll. Another issue we had is that many students applied for section 24A to change their voting district as they came here to study. We had about 2,000 students who applied for section 24A and the list that the IEC had was not in alphabetical order and that was a big problem. That is what caused the delays. Other people got demoralised and had to leave because it was getting late and they feared for their safety,” Mamabolo told TimesLIVE Premium.

Mamabolo slammed the IEC for failing to ensure secrecy in the booths. He said they faced the officials as they cast their votes. 

“Some are saying this is a new regulation so that people don’t take pictures in the booth, but the messages were not consistent in the voting district. Our problem is one — the IEC is a problem. As much as we are happy that people came out, we are not happy that the IEC denied people their right to vote as they had to leave to avoid being robbed outside. There are thugs peddling outside campus,” Mamabolo said.

The late closure of voting stations could be due to a combination of a large youth interest in the elections and a lack of resources and personnel by the IEC, said Prof Daryl Glaser of Wits University’s department of political studies.

“I think there is also the fact that the IEC is strapped and under-resourced and they don’t seem to have enough personnel to process things quickly. I think it might be a combination of those. It is difficult to not see some evidence of enthusiasm in those really long queues,” Glaser said.

But there were other factors to consider such as the large number of political parties and independent candidates who contested the elections. This was bound to bring some challenges, said political analyst Prof Lesiba Teffo.

He said there were issues with the budget and the cutting of resources, and an increase of additional staff and resources should have been considered, he said. However, the blunders by the IEC are not likely to affect the fairness of the election outcome.         

“There was not enough, in terms of voter education, in relation to the three ballot papers. Another thing is not enough was done in terms of section 24A applications that you can only vote where you registered. You may not blame the IEC because people have the responsibility to check. But at the same time, it would have been better if they had done more on this one. Some people were seriously disadvantaged.

“I don’t think all those failures would have such a material effect to say the elections are not free and fair and were impacted in the negative. Those [failures] can be something that is observed and can urge IEC to do better in future. I think what happened is a normal stance. There will always be challenges here and there.”

While the IEC could not yet confirm the voter turnout until all counting is completed, it was likely not impacted by the delays and glitches, said visiting associate professor at Wits School of Governance, William Gumede.

However, the IEC should have established a backup plan as some places received a much higher turnout than expected, he said.

“I am surprised that, particularly in urban areas where young people came out, that it was not projected because often young voters say they don’t come and vote and this time it was different. I think the IEC should have had standby capacity and should have deployed more in incidents like that. It does appear there is unpreparedness for the higher turnout in some urban areas. They could have done a better job in terms of having standby capacity,” Gumede said.

At a media briefing on Thursday afternoon, IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo explained that the staff were trained over four days and had to complete modules on the registration, counting and voting process.

This included practicals on the voting station layout and how to configure the ballot box and ballot compartments, he said.

Officials are employed according to an agreed recruitment and selection criteria between the IEC and political parties to give an employment opportunity to the jobless youth. However, Mamabolo admitted that this could affect the quality of the process due to them having lack of work experience.

“Hence our position has always been that you need, for the management of voting station, experienced staff ... and supplement those with people who are unemployed,” he said.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya took the criticism, stating that they would never be defensive.

“We are going to listen and observe the things that are being raised and deal with them from where they are raised. This is in the best interest of the work that we do and the work that this country expects all of us will do. We note, though, that there is critique that is fair and critique that is not fair. But at this point, it doesn’t really matter,” he told the media.

Meanwhile, the National Treasury denied claims of a budget cut, with R2.23bn being allocated to the IEC in the 2023/24 financial year. R2.3bn was allocated for the 2024/25 year with R322m being transferred in April. 

“Assertions in the media about the budget baseline trends of the IEC reflect an incomplete reading of the budget documentation and a misunderstanding of both the budget process and the nature of the challenges faced by the IEC and experienced by voters during election day,” Treasury said in a statement.