The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it has lost one ballot box in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) which it is busy searching for. However, the commission says the ballots in that box have already been counted and a results slip produced.
This was revealed by IEC national general manager of electoral operations Granville Abrahams during a media briefing on Thursday at the IEC’s national results operation centre at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg.
Abrahams said the ballot box comes from ward 14 in uMhlathuze Local Municipality in KZN.
No need to panic over missing ballot box
“We had a misfortune of losing one ballot box. Before we start getting all anxious, it is a ballot box that already had ballots that had been counted and reduced to a results slip. So, the results are in for that specific one [ballot box]. The commission is required by law to retain ballot boxes for six months before disposing them. We are quite eager to return that box and take it into storage.
“The ballot box was apparently transferred on an open vehicle and by the time we got to the destination we discovered that the ballot box[is] gone. Those votes have been counted and recorded. We are working on our own initiative to trace this ballot box,” said Abrahams.
On Wednesday, millions of South Africans went to cast their votes in the country’s 2024 general national and provincial elections.
About 36% of votes counted as at 9.30pm Thursday
Voters cast their votes across 23,293 voting stations in the country.
The IEC said 27,782 477 South Africans were registered to vote for the 2024 elections.
As of 9:30pm on Thursday, the ANC was leading the national vote with 42,28%, followed by the DA with 24,47%. The MK Party was in third with 9,57%, while the EFF was fourth place at 9,15%. The Patriotic Alliance came in fifth position at 3.37%.
As of 9:30pm, 35,74% of the national votes had been counted and processed.
