Elections going well, says ANC

2011-05-18 14:50

Pretoria - The first few hours of the 2011 local government elections had largely gone well, the ANC said on Wednesday.

"My sense is that people are coming out in large numbers, this is good for democracy, it's good for the ANC," said the party's elections head Ngoako Ramathlodi.

He was at the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) results centre in Pretoria where he and other party representatives met IEC chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula for a progress report on the elections, which started at 07:00.

He said problems experienced so far were "minor".

Azapo concerns

Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) representative Billy Mogale disagreed.

He expressed concern over reports that in Gauteng, in particular, one party was in possession of the Voters' Roll and had stopped people heading to vote, asking them who they would vote for.

If people were not going to vote for their party, the members than told them they were not on the roll and sent them home.

"People are actually sitting there with the Voters' Roll... it's the ANC actually. It's a sorry state of affairs," he said.

The matter was being addressed by the IEC.

Ramathlodi said there were also reports of protests in three or four places, but that they were being handled by the police.

Turnout

The IEC had also told parties that the "zip zip" machines in some areas were not working, but that it had remedied the problem by providing those areas with new paper.

He was optimistic about the voter turnout, saying that people had been "energised" to vote and were turning up in their numbers.

The parties would meet the IEC again at 15:00 for another progress report.

There was increased activity at the results centre as the day wore on, with the arrival of reporters and politicians.

Tlakula briefed journalists on the election at 12:30.

- SAPA