South Africa election: Vote count underway amid high turnout

Election staff began counting votes after polls closed at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night.

By law, South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) must announce the results within seven days.

However, IEC chief Cy Mamabolo said the result would most likely be announced before then.

"The commission is careful not to take long to get to a point where they declare results," he told reporters.

"It is not the intention of the commission to take the whole seven days and have the country in suspense for that period."

Mamabolo said he did not intend to have a "prolonged period" with no results.

"At a reasonable opportunity, the commission will announce the outcome of the elections balancing two imperatives," Mamabolo said.

"The first imperative is accuracy, because we've got to be accurate in the record of the election result on the one hand. The second imperative is speed, because for as long as you don't announce the results, the country is in a politically tenuous situation. The markets react to that and so on."

News agencies AP and AFP predicted that results will be released over the weekend.

Polling stations officially closed at 9 p.m. after a day marked by long queues.

However, the head of the Independent Election Commission, Cy Mamabolo, said that all voters who joined the line before the 9 p.m. cutoff would still be able to cast their ballots.

The IEC said earlier that around 7% of polling places opened late because of delays in delivering election materials.

South Africa's election chief has hinted at an exceptional turnout at polling stations on Wednesday.

"Evidently we are in for a higher turnout than we had in 2019," Sy Mamabolo, head of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), told a press conference on Wednesday evening.

"Which is why it is the singular intention of the commission at this point to ensure that every voter who is in the queue is given an opportunity to record their political choice."

Mamabolo did not provide preliminary figures while voting places remained open.

"Suffice to say it will probably be well beyond the 66% we had in 2019," he said.

Amid reports that some voters had to wait hours in line to cast their ballot, Mamabolo said it was nevertheless good to see such a high turnout.

"We don't lament that. It's a good problem to have, hence out commitment to service them all," he said.

South Africa's electoral authority has reported an evening surge in voters at polling stations in large cities.

"Although we are nearing the end of the voting period, many South Africans voters are still casting their ballots in certain parts of the country," said Sy Mamabolo, the head of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

"We are experiencing a late surge and are processing a large number of voters, in particular the metropolitan areas in Gauteng, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape."

Mamabolo told a press conference on Wednesday evening that the IEC had enlisted additional electoral staff to assist with the vote count.

"These staff have been called to voting stations earlier than anticipated in order to augment the capacity, where we are experiencing long queues," he said.

Mamabolo also urged voters who were still waiting to cast their ballot to remain in line.

Voters have reported long queues at a number of polling stations across South Africa.

The queues remained long well into the afternoon — a sign for some of high turnout.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) reported that voting was proceeding smoothly in most areas despite queues.

Some voters told DW earlier that they would not be deterred by the long wait.

South Africans across the country have been waiting, sometimes for hours, to cast their votes. Students at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg say they have been waiting to cast their votes for over six hours, Newzroom Africa reports. 

In other areas, too, voters patiently wait for hours.

The electoral commission in the Eastern Cape province reports that one voting station in the Nyandeni Local Municipality wasn't able to open until 16:00 CET. Protesters had prevented it from being open, and voting could only begin after police intervened. Over 30 voting stations in the Eastern Cape province opened late. Soldiers were also deployed to safeguard some polling locations.

Voters have reported being turned away at the University of the Western Cape voting station because officials couldn't find them on the electoral comission's system.

The polls close at 9 p.m. in South Africa (19:00 GMT), and the counting will begin immediately. The electoral commission will announce the final results on Sunday, June 2.

 

 DW Correspondent Dianne Hawker reports from Soweto, Johannesburg.

"My message to women is that they should come out and vote. If democracy is important to them, they must make sure that their voices are heard, and voting today is making sure that your voice is being heard," former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka told state broadcaster SABC. 

Out of the 27.7 million registered voters, 15.3 million (55.25%) are female, according to South Africa’s electoral commission. Stopping gender-based violence and providing reproductive rights for women are key issues in today's election.

 

According to the Electoral Commission's Deputy CEO Mashego Sheburi, elections started smoothly this morning, with the exception of what he described as several "minimal" issues.

These included problems related to voting materials arriving late in Johannesburg, as well as disruptions in the Eastern Cape province where five polling stations could not open due to protests.

Meanwhile, faulty scanners left voters frustrated at the Joubert Park voting station in Johannesburg. EFF’s party agent Aviwe Mdaniso told South African radio station 702:

A small community in Keiskammahoek, in the Eastern Cape province, decided not to allow anyone to vote in the area due to a dispute over millions of rand owed to them in land claims, the Sunday Times Live reported.

"For the past two days, the community of Lower Zingcuka has been protesting, blocking access to the village and preventing special voting. It is one of nine voting stations disrupted by communities in the Eastern Cape to vent their grievances with the government," the report said.

The independent electoral commission said two days of special early voting went smoothly on Monday and Tuesday, although two people were arrested for interfering with voting operations. Furthermore, two representatives of an unnamed political party have been arrested for allegedly tampering with ballot boxes.

In Gqeberha, the sixth-largest city in the country, voting at Cape Recife High School was delayed due to the seals of two ballet boxes being broken.

Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said on Wednesday that "Interference with the unfolding electoral programme, logistics, handlings or intimidation of electoral staff cannot be justified as vigilance."

 

 

Former President Jacob Zuma has cast his vote in his home village of Nkandla, surrounded by his supporters. Zuma was barred from running in the election by South Africa's Constitutional Court, which ruled that his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court disqualified him from running for the position. 

Over 17,000 inmates in 240 prisons are expected to vote at correctional facilities across the country today, according to SABC News. The Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility in Pretoria has the highest number of registered inmate voters at 2,900. 

Meanwhile, over 100 inmates cast their votes at the Barberton Correctional Facility in Mpumalanga. Voting there started an hour late due to delays caused by Electoral Commission (IEC) officials. 

 

 

President Cyril Ramaphosa said he has "no doubt whatsoever that the people will once again remain confident in the ANC." Opinion polls suggest that his party, the ANC, which has been in power since 1994, could fall below 50 percent for the first time in its history. DW correspondent Dianne Hawker is on the ground.

 

 

Out of over 27 million registered voters in South Africa, 42% are under the age of 40. 

 

Many South African social media influencers have been encouraging young people to vote, including Karabo “Kay” Mahapa, a TikTok and Instagram creator who boasts over 450,000 followers between both platforms.

Here are the key issues for young voters

Jobs

South Africa's general unemployment rate of 33% is the highest in the world. This is the biggest issue for young voters. Approximately 45% of South Africans between the ages of 15 — the legal working age — and 34 are currently unemployed. As a result, the income inequality gap in the country continues to widen.

Corruption

In recent years, South Africa's leadership has been implicated in several corruption scandals relating to the influence of private business interests on the government. As a result, many young people have grown wary of the ruling ANC party.

Education 

Education is a major issue for young voters. Many Black-majority communities in South Africa lack adequite funding in a variety of areas, including at public schools, which are frequently understaffed and lack the necessary school supplies.

Crime

South Africa is struggling to curb rising violence. On average, 75 people are murdered every day, an increase of over 60% in the past decade, according to the South African Police Service’s annual crime report. Additionally, 1.8 million counts of serious and violent crimes were reported during the 2022-2023 financial year. Carjackings have more than doubled over the past 10 years as well.

Ailing infrastructure

Young South Africans are looking for the next government to fix the country's infrastructure woes. South Africa experiences regular power cuts in order to prevent grid collapse, as it struggles to meet growing demand. Such cuts, referred to as load shedding, interrupt everyday life and pose additional challenges to businesses as well as critical infrastructure, like hospitals. In 2023, load shedding totaled the equivalent of 289 days, resulting in daily blackouts of between six to 12 hours  across the country. According to the South African Reserve Bank, such blackouts cost the economy about $51 million (€47 million) per day.

This is what young South African voters want to see after the election:

Despite all this, election observer Blessing Vava from The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition has said he is concerned that he is not seeing enough young voters in polling station queues.