People, not on role, vote

2006-03-01 09:18

Pretoria - Standing and sitting in line, 80 people queued outside the voting station at the St Francis Primary School in Block R, Soshanguve, north of Pretoria, on Wednesday.

The presiding officer said the ward had 2 697 people on the voters' roll - one of the highest numbers of registered voters.

People in the area were also eager to vote as they saw it as a way to improve service delivery, he said.

By 08:00, 57 people had voted.

On a few occasions registered voters whose names were not on the voters' roll had arrived at the polling station. They were able to vote after filling in an Independent Electoral Commission form confirming their identity and places of residence.

Going partying

An elderly woman had to be turned away from the voting station when it was discovered she was not a South African citizen.

Most of the early arrivals at voting stations were the elderly, many of whom took their grandchildren with them.

A number of young people outside the voting stations said they planned to go to parties after voting.

Rain which damaged the dirt roads in the area on Tuesday night, had cleared by Wednesday morning.

Many of the presiding officers said that although they had worried the weather would keep voters away, it now appeared that this would not be the case.

Each of the voting stations visited had two uniformed, armed police officers observing the proceedings and an average of six party agents present from the various political parties.

- SAPA