South Africans are voting in what is expected to be the most competitive elections in the country, since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.
TVC News Senior Political Correspondent, Ayodele Ozugbakun monitored the election in Durban reports that Voters are out in force across the Rainbow nation, It’s D-day in South Africa, as citizens trooped out as early as 6 in the morning to vote in the 2024 general election.
Electoral officers in 23 thousand polling stations and nine provinces recorded an impressive time of arrival for the election.
I roved with a Nigerian observer group, Yiaga Africa to monitor the conduct of the election at various locations in Durban, the third most populous city in the country.
The team was led by the Programmes Director of Yiaga Africa, Cynthia Mbamalu.
Our first port of call was Stonebridge Community Hall in Phoenix, Durban.
It is a community dominated by Indians.
The Voter Management Device, VMD, which is equivalent to Nigeria’s, Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, was deployed for the election.
Voters took turns to register and collect 3 ballot papers for the National and provincial elections.
Some legislators from the Nigerian parliament oversighting INEC, listed their area of interest in the South African elections.
Outside the polling units, it was a funfair and carnival-like atmosphere, as representatives of major political parties danced to Zulu songs.
The head of the Yiaga Africa team highlighted some areas of improvement that my country, Nigeria can adopt for improved electoral process.
The exercise began by 7 in the morning to 9pm to enable more than 21 million voters in the country to exercise their franchise.
