Delays affect eight KwaZulu-Natal municipalities as IEC captures 88% of results

IEC provincial officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said that of the 14,245 results expected from 5,028 voting stations, 82% had also been audited.

The IEC says 88% of expected results in KwaZulu-Natal had been captured by Friday, while recounts, connectivity problems, storms and a power outage delayed processing in eight municipalities.

IEC provincial officer Ntombifuthi Masinga said that of the 14,245 results expected from 5,028 voting stations, 82% had also been audited.

She said the auditing process had largely caught up with the pace of results capturing.

“Before coming here, we were sitting at 88% of all results captured and 82% of all results audited,” said Masinga.

Masinga said eThekwini was among the municipalities experiencing delays, mainly due to the high volume of results and several recounts.

She explained that recounts were necessary where ballot paper figures did not reconcile, including the number of ballots issued, spoiled, invalid and valid ballots.

The figures must correspond with the initial number of ballot papers issued at each voting station. Where discrepancies are identified, the IEC conducts recounts at its capturing sites in the presence of municipal party liaison committees.

Other municipalities affected by delays included uMsunduzi, uMngeni, AbaQulusi, Ulundi, Ndwedwe, Alfred Duma and uMkhanyakude.

Masinga said uMsunduzi experienced delays because of recounts conducted at voting stations, while storms affected connectivity in uMngeni and Ndwedwe.In Ndwedwe, the commission was forced to relocate its results capturing site to KwaDukuza because of persistent connectivity problems.

AbaQulusi, Ulundi and Alfred Duma also experienced slow connectivity, forcing staff to stop working at about 9pm on Thursday and resume on Friday morning.

Masinga said a power outage had also affected connectivity in uMkhanyakude.

Providing an update on the affected municipalities, she said results capturing had reached 64% in eThekwini, 40% in uMsunduzi, 70% in uMngeni, 63% in AbaQulusi, 64% in Ulundi, 59% in Ndwedwe, 49% in Alfred Duma and 67% in uMkhanyakude.

She said the commission was encouraged by the progress made on Friday, with most affected municipalities having surpassed 60%.

Masinga said the IEC was working to clear outstanding results and resolve exceptions before releasing the final results.

She added that the commission was comfortable with the progress and expected the remaining processes to be completed ahead of the formal announcement of the results.