IEC targets Friday declaration as Khayelitsha station delays Cape Town election results

IEC Western Cape electoral officer Michael Hendricks.

Only one voting station in Khayelitsha was still counting ballots on Thursday, causing a delay in the finalisation of results in the City of Cape Town.

Earlier on Thursday, DA federal leader and City of Cape Town mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis projected a decisive victory for the party in the metro despite the IEC's results not being finalised.  

Western Cape provincial electoral officer Michael Hendricks said during a media briefing on Thursday afternoon that a team had been sent to investigate the delay, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) anticipating that results would be declared on Friday.

“We are very satisfied with our progress in terms of how the capturing of the results has gone,” said Hendricks.

“Even last night, we managed to deal with persons in the queues fairly quickly.”

Hendricks said counting was still under way at  Ward 91 in Khayelitsha, where the IEC had deployed a team after it took too long to obtain the results.

“But for the rest, all the counting has been completed. We're now at the stage of capturing, auditing, scanning, etc,” he said.

As of 2pm on Thursday, 65% of result slips had been captured and audited.

Hendricks said the province had 4,040 result slips to process, with two slips per voting district in the City of Cape Town and three per voting district outside the metro.

The results are determined at voting stations, where result slips are completed in duplicate and signed by party agents. One copy is left at the voting station, while the other is transported, alongside other security materials, to IEC local offices for verification, scanning and capturing.

The slips are then audited by independent auditors.

Hendricks said that, of the 12 municipalities whose results had been completed by noon on Thursday, only Bergrivier and Swartland had clear majorities.

In Bergrivier, the DA won nine seats, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) two, the ANC one and the FF Plus one.

In Swartland, the DA secured 14 seats, the PA four, the ANC three and the FF Plus two.

The other municipalities whose results had been finalised with no party with a clear majority included Prince Albert, Laingsburg, Oudtshoorn, Kannaland, Swellendam, Knysna, Cape Agulhas and Witzenberg.

ActionSA provincial representative Dereleen James, who was at the results centre earlier on Thursday, said the party was pleased with its performance in Laingsburg.

“We are quite pleased with those results that trickled in last night. It’s now time for us to sit around the table. That’s when those coalition talks begin.

“But for us, I have always said that going into a coalition is about finding parties that share the same principles. Coalitions are not what ActionSA wants; it’s what the voters dictated.

“We will await our national leadership and start those coalition talks,” she said.

SACP provincial secretary Benson Ngqentsu said the party was satisfied with its position, as it had not targeted wards.

“Any force whose agenda is about looting, the Communist Party will not be a part of it. We are prepared to be on the opposition benches,” he said.