Voters who turned up at Durban City Hall to cast their votes ran into difficulties and heated exchanges with electoral staff.
It is claimed that some of the voters who were not registered to vote at City Hall attempted to vote, but denied a chance to vote since they did not apply for a Section 24A vote, leading to a heated disagreement.
Section 24A of the Electoral Act permits individuals to vote at designed polling stations other than their usual voting stations. However, it is mandatory for applicants to apply for special voting in advance. This window closed on May 17.
It appears that some individuals who were not registered to vote at City Hall and also did not apply for the Section 24 vote were given entry in the morning to vote, but later, others with the same issue were denied access to vote, which enraged these voters as to why they were not given the same opportunity.
Voter Njabulo Muthwa commented on this issue, stating that Durban City Hall does not want people who have registered elsewhere to vote, but because he has been voting for years, he understands that people should be allowed to vote in any station, even if they are not registered on that particular station, but they are only given two ballots for provincial and national.
He further said: "When I arrived to vote this morning, it appeared that I had registered at KwaMakhutha, which is correct, but I was surprised to be told that I could not vote here since I am registered elsewhere, but last time I was able vote here, even though I was registered on a different voting station, but they ended up allowing me to vote since I was challenging them with questions.
"People who were behind me even gave up to vote because they were denied to vote here at City Hall since they are registered on a different voting station and they were livid, since the stations that they registered on are very far from them.“
One of the members of the IEC told people that those who were allowed to vote at City Hall, but were registered elsewhere, did not do so under his supervision.
He said the regulation is that a person who did not register under Section 24A and is also registered at a different voting station is not allowed to vote City Call, but at their designated voting station where they are registered.
IOL Elections