KARREN BOWDEN AND LEANNE JANSEN
A strong police presence and roads littered with rocks and charred tyres yesterday testified to Wednesday’s municipal election protest at KwaXimba in Cato Ridge.
While there was no sign of the crowd which had tried to prevent election officials from entering the area, residents who had been intimidated into abstaining from voting remained fearful.
The ANC’s candidate list was the source of the unrest. Locals, who both on Wednesday and yesterday would only speak on condition of anony-mity, were adamant over their refusal to vote for Musa Mkhize, who they had not nominated. They demanded that his name be removed from the ballot sheet.
Police officers in one of several Nyalas stationed at schools in the area attributed their presence to a threat against polling stations.
“They say they’re going to burn down schools,” one officer said. According to the same policeman, the mere sight of Mkhize “and his crew” in the streets had caused frenzied mobilisation and the burning of tyres and refuse on election day. A trench dug across a tarred road leading to KwaXimba on Tuesday night, meant to deter IEC officials and voters, had been filled with sand yesterday.
Only six votes were cast at the Othweba Primary School and, while it was previously reported that only 12 people had made their mark at Esiweni Hall, 701 people had been able to make their way there. However, only two people out of a registered 1 340 had voted at Ingcindezi Lower Primary School in Manqindi Drive – the main site of Wednesday’s protest action.
Good voter turn-out was, however, recorded at 11 of the 13 polling stations in the area.
According to the IEC, the overall voter turn-out in Ward 1 stands at 57 percent (8 248 out of a possible 14 463 voters). Asked why he had not voted on Wednesday, an 18-year-old said he had heard that his ward was not voting this year.