The first real test of the 2026 local government elections was not a party rally or a poll. It was whether a pensioner in Cape Town could walk into her voting station at 8am on Monday and find a ballot. At 217 stations in the metro, she could not.
What happened
Western Cape Chief Electoral Officer Michael Hendrickse apologised on Monday morning as voters arrived to find no ballot papers, and said stations would open as ballots arrived. He said outlying areas of the province were not affected (EWN, 2 November).
The cause goes back to the courtroom. IEC deputy chief electoral officer Masego Sheburi said the original plan was to have all ballots in storage by 21 October. Then the Constitutional Court, on 15 October, ordered certain ANC candidates admitted in six municipalities. The commission decided the election could not be seen as free and fair if only those candidates were added, so it also admitted 32 other parties. That made 28 million already-printed ballots unusable, and the IEC reprinted 33 million in total. Cape Town’s ballots were in the final print run. Printing only finished on Sunday, and the bottleneck was packaging: security features, numbering and stitching into books (The Citizen, 2 November).
By Monday evening, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said all affected stations had opened, and they stayed open until 6pm instead of 5pm. The IEC estimates about 780,000 special votes were cast on day one, out of about 2.66 million approved special voters (Daily Maverick, 3 November).
The IEC’s defence, and its limits
Mamabolo’s line was candid: “When you deal with a programme as big as an election, involving 127,000 staff members and 23,000 voting stations, aberrations are going to arise.” He apologised, said the delays were not politically motivated, and promised “a much better and improved performance tomorrow and even a better one on Wednesday” (Daily Maverick).
Some of that is fair. The IEC did not choose a reprint two and a half weeks before polling day; a court ruling forced it, and widening the reprint to 32 other parties was the defensible call. But “aberrations will arise” is an explanation, not a standard. Special voting exists for the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities and people working on Wednesday. Those are exactly the voters least able to come back later or wait in a queue for hours. A late start for them is not a small glitch.
There were also harder moments. A deputy presiding officer in KwaZulu-Natal was hit by a car on the way to a station in uKhahlamba and was in hospital, and a presiding officer in North West collapsed on duty and died (Daily Maverick). Behind the logistics are 127,000 people doing long shifts, and they deserve better than to be a footnote.
The secrecy question
SABC political analyst Kanyi Magubane said she “didn’t vote comfortably” at Rivonia Village Hall, alleging booths were placed so that officials and others could see how voters marked ballots. The IEC said booths are meant to be set out “ATM-style”, so officials can watch for people photographing ballots without seeing the mark, and that further instructions could be issued (Daily Maverick). That instruction should go out before Wednesday, in writing, to every presiding officer. Ballot secrecy is not a detail to be fixed station by station.
What to watch on Wednesday
Three things. First, whether every one of 23,000 stations has the right ballots at 7am, especially in the six municipalities where the court ruling changed the lists. Second, whether the IEC publishes a clear count of stations that opened late, rather than a general “largely smooth”. Third, whether parties use Monday’s delays to cast doubt on results later. The EFF has already questioned the IEC’s readiness. Complaints should go through the formal objection process, with evidence, not through press statements after the count.
If you are an approved special voter and missed Monday, today, Tuesday 3 November, from 8am to 5pm SAST, is your last special-vote chance. Home-visit voters must stay at the address on their application, because officials will not come back. Otherwise, you vote on Wednesday at your registered station, 7am to 9pm.
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