Cape Town - The Electoral Commission (IEC) has stood by its voter management devices (VMDs) despite it presenting glitches and problems through the election process on Monday.
IEC chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo said they believed the voter management devices were the mainstay equipment for this election.
He said it was these devices that ensured the IEC continued to meet the constitutional courts injunction that voters only vote in the wards in which they are registered and that every voter must have an address on the voters’ roll.
In a morning briefing held at the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Tshwane on Tuesday, Mamabolo said 12 186 869 votes were processed through the VMDs over the two days of special votes as well as election day.
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For more elections stories go to our Local Government Elections page.
The DA was leading in the Western Cape with 50.18% of votes and 82 seats from Monday’s local government elections.
This is according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) results as captured.
The results showed that the party was leading in three municipalities and in control of one.
The results also showed that of the 82 seats the DA has won, 79 are in wards and three proportional representation.
READ THE FULL STORY: DA leads in vote counting in Western Cape municipalities
KwaZulu-Natal DA leader Francois Rodgers says that the party has made big strides in the province after its good performance in the uMngeni Local Municipality where it is expected to win with an outright majority and run the council.
In its election campaign the DA had set its sights on Umngeni, a municipality in Howick, just outside the provincial capital Pietermaritzburg, even launching its provincial manifesto in the area last week.
“It’s still early days, the results are not in yet, but clearly it’s showing that the DA is making huge inroads into KwaZulu-Natal, we indicate that 15 ANC wards have fallen to the DA across the province.
“The bulk of those is six in eThekwini, two in uMsunduzi, one in Howick, two in KwaDukuza and one in Ugu.”
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The EFF in Limpopo has bagged 5 more wards, taking all 5 from the ANC, when the provincial municipal election results started tricking in by Tuesday afternoon.
The party had initially retained 3 wards in Seshego near Polokwane where they had won in 2016 and its party leaders Julius Malema’s hometown to reach 8.
The wards won are wards 8, 21 and 30 in Elias Motsoaledi municipality on Sekhukhune while the other two are ward 3 in Waterberg and ward 26 in Mangkweng.
The EFF retained ward 7, 10 and 13 in Seshego that’s always been their stronghold.
Speaking to Pretoria News at the provincial Results Operations Centre at Peter Mokaba stadium on Tuesday afternoon, party provincial leader Jossey Buthane said his party was happy with the results are far.
READ THE FULL STORY: EFF in Limpopo takes 5 more wards from ANC
The election process in KwaZulu-Natal province was disrupted on Monday when a ballot box filled with marked papers was allegedly stolen by angry community members, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has confirmed.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) had to retrieve the ballot box which was missing for about 10 minutes, according to the IEC.
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WATCH: IFP members at Nkandla local municipality's ward 14 gathering to celebrate snatching the ANC ward where former President Jacob Zuma lives. The IFP fielded a 30 year old candidate named Philani Nkwanyana. @IOL #Elections2021 pic.twitter.com/YM4FYDEtt4
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) November 2, 2021
The Electoral Commission is confident 90% of the results will be finalised by Tuesday evening, while the balanceis expected to take another 24 hours to complete.
Mamabolo said this status was in line with the expected result capturing process.
Presenting an update on Tuesday morning from the IEC’s National Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Tshwane, Mamabolo said the Northern Cape had completed 74% of its results, followed by Western Cape at 46% and in third position was the Free State at 26%.
Read the full story: Election results should be finalised in 24 hours, IEC says
The IFP in KwaZulu-Natal is calling on the ANC, police and the Electoral Commission (IEC) to intervene, after several of its members were allegedly attacked in the eThekwini Municipality on election day.
On Monday night, the IFP expressed shock that its candidate, Percy Zungu, and his party agents from Ward 1 in the kwaXimba Traditional Area, were attacked twice in one day.
The party said ANC supporters allegedly threatened and chased Zungu and his colleagues away from the area.
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At 11:38am on Tuesday the IEC announced the ANC leads at 46.11% ; DA at 24.80%, EFF at 9.14%. Nationally 27% of votes have been counted.
JUST IN: The IFP has inflicted more wounds on former president Jacob Zuma by snatching his ward in Nkandla.
After losing Nkandla municipality in 2016, the ANC was able to hold onto ward 14 as a consolation. But this morning results show the IFP kicked the ANC out.
Former DA leader and One South Africa movement leader Mmusi Maimane says the manhandling of Helen Zille was “atrocious and unacceptable”.
Zille, who is the DA federal council chairperson, was yesterday dragged out of the Fernwood Primary School voting station in Bethelsdorp by members of the Nelson Mandela Bay police. The video has been doing the rounds on social media platforms.
Maimane took to Twitter to condemn the behaviour of police: “In a democracy built on the principles of human dignity we do not ever condone such behaviour.
“The treatment of @helenzille by the police was atrocious and unacceptable.
Read the full story: Mmusi Maimane condemns manhandling of Helen Zille by cop at voting station on election day
We want to put in as many as we can, the results by this evening. The commission will declare results probably on Thursday, said IEC CEO Sy Mamabolo @IOL #LGE2021
— Ntombi Nkosi (@nntombi_nkosi) November 2, 2021
Mamabolo says discussions are underway to insulate vote capture sites to minimize the effects loadshedding will have on the capturing process as Eskom says loadshedding may begin @IOL #Elections2021
— Kailene Pillay (@kailenepillay) November 2, 2021
@IECSouthAfrica Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo is giving an update on the counting of votes at the national ROC in Tshwane now @IOL #Elections2021 pic.twitter.com/wRJdjvL1oV
— Kailene Pillay (@kailenepillay) November 2, 2021
The ANC has gained ground and is leading in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro as more results start coming in.
While it was lagging behind the DA early in the day, with more results streaming in, the ANC has picked up some key wards in the area.
The ANC was sitting at 43.62% after an initial 38.87%.
The DA has dropped slightly, from 41.17% to 36.36%.
The EFF is in third place, with its support moving marginally from 6.31% to 6.86%.
But the results show that the race is tight between the ANC and DA, with the ANC trying to recapture the metro.
Here’s the full story: Elections results: ANC gains ground in Nelson Mandela Bay as voting continues
Video: Samkelo Mtshali/IOL Politics
The IFP's Narend Singh spoke to Independent Media on Tuesday about the lower voter turnout during yesterday's local government elections.
He says political parties have a big role to play in the next few years to ensure that voters turn out in their numbers in the next elections as they do not want this to become a trend going into the 2024 national and provincial elections and beyond.
Full story: IFP says IEC was not prepared for local government elections
On Tuesday morning, election analysts predicted the ANC will take the Ekurhuleni Municipality but did not rule out a hung council.
The ANC is leading the pack with 40%, followed by the DA with 30% and on their heels is the EFF with 14%, IFP with 1.5% and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) at 3.5%.
“The ANC will get the most votes in Ekurhuleni but will fall well short of what they achieved in 2016. In 2016 they got 49% of the votes, we are predicting that they will end up with 40% of the votes.
“What has happened in Ekurhuleni from the data we have seen is that they are under-performing in their strongholds like Tsakane, Duduza. The ANC has not been able to get their voters out and they are losing their votes to the EFF,” said election analyst Wayne Sussman.
Read the full story: Election results: ANC leads in Ekurhuleni so far but experts say hung council likely
As results from the 2021 local government elections started to come through on Tuesday morning, it painted a bleak picture for the ANC – it has not passed the 50% threshold.
Vote counting continued on Tuesday morning after what analysts described as a dismal turnout at the municipal elections.
By 8am on Tuesday, the ANC had garnered 1 293 628 votes nationally, indicating a 45.71% overall support.
The figures released by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) showed results had been coming through from across the country all night.
For more elections stories go to our Local Government Elections page.
The Electoral Commission is happy to announce the first results of the #LGE2021.
For the #LGE2021, the first results came from Imvomvo Lodge voting station from Umzimvubu in the Eastern Cape province. pic.twitter.com/K5IwFmEhYa
On Monday night after voting closed and results showed first signs of the ANC taking the lead in some provinces followed by the Freedom Front Plus, the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters.
New kid on the block ActionSA reportedly won its first voting district in KwaDukuza's Ward 15 in Stanger, KZN and also reportedly in the Joburg inner city.
FULL STORY: Elections 2021: Some surprises as results from municipal elections slowly start trickling in
Election day was not without any drama with reports of the arrest of a journalist - all caught live on air - , Helen Zille’s manhandling by a police officer and Soweto residents marching to Luthuli House to air their grievances.
To everyone who waited in line to vote🗳️: thank you for your patience and thank you to the thousands of IEC officials who helped make it happen. We see you. We could not have done it without you. #EveryVoiceTogether #LGE2021 pic.twitter.com/ATJwdt05TR
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) November 1, 2021