Members of political parties joining us
International and domestic observers who are with us today
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for joining us for today’s briefing on the second day of special votes and on a final state of readiness ahead of tomorrow’s national and provincial election.
Today special voting continued both at voting stations and through home visits.
Overall reports from provinces were of special voting continuing to run relatively smoothly.
Most provinces reported having completed more than half of their home visits and voting station special votes yesterday and were on track to finish this process by close of business today except for a few instances.
The one main exception to this was in the eThekwini Metro in KwaZulu-Natal where we had over 44 000 approved special votes. By yesterday, only 21 000 special votes had been completed.
Additional staff has been deployed to expedite processing of the remaining home visits today and the Commission has instructed that home visits should continue if necessary beyond the 5pm scheduled stop today.
Other issues which emerged in the assessment of special voting yesterday showed that special votes had been affected in a number of areas to varying degrees due to community protest action.
The most severely impacted area was Maruleng in Limpopo where some voting stations could not proceed on account of threats posed to the process. This matter is being dealt with in conjunction with the provincial security forces and we anticipate a dramatic turnaround.
Another incident widely reported on via Twitter yesterday involved staff from a temporary voting station in KwaThema in Springs on the East Rand who had seemingly used the nearby house of a party agent to store materials overnight.
This was in clear contravention of the established protocol for the storage of voting materials and the election officials involved were immediately removed as election officials and replaced. The materials were recovered and quarantined.
A further investigation will be conducted to establish whether charges should be brought against the election officials.
The Electoral Commission takes any threat to the integrity and credibility of the voting process extremely seriously. Any action - or inaction - which impacts on the credibility or perceptions of credibility will be swiftly and decisively dealt with.
We thank those who brought this our attention for their vigilance and help. Yesterday we mentioned the challenge of cellphones and social media with regards to breaching secrecy. But this was a case in which a cellphone camera, an alert party agent and the power of social media helped enhance credibility of this election.
Using social media, South Africa’s 25.39 million voters - almost all armed with cellphones - are proving to be another powerful group of observers to this and future elections.
With regards overseas votes, by this morning a total of 15 327 completed ballots had been delivered to Election House in Centurion from 77 missions.
Ballots from the remaining 39 overseas missions were expected to be delivered today and tomorrow.
Finally, let me express again our confidence with regards to Election Day tomorrow.
Our plans are in place and we are ready to welcome voters from 7am until 9pm tomorrow.
We are happy to report that the weather is predicted to be clear over most of the country with only a 30% chance of scattered thunderstorms in parts of the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
However, strong winds – in cases up to 45km/h have been forecast for parts of the Western Cape, the Eastern Cape, Free State and North West.
These could pose a challenge for our temporary voting stations based in tents.
Once again we appeal to all voters to exercise patience and tolerance and to act in a manner which shows pride in our country as they visit the voting stations.
We make a special plea to those communities which have been expressing their frustrations and grievances through protest action to respect the rights of all South Africans to make their voice heard through the electoral process.
To all voters we say: Don’t miss this opportunity to make your voice heard and to have your say in the future of our country.
South Africa needs all your votes.
Thank you
