Cape Town – The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has sent condolences to the family of a 20-year-old volunteer, who died while working at a voting station in the Western Cape on Wednesday.
IEC provincial head Courtney Sampson expressed his sympathies for the loss of a young life.
“One of the volunteers of the ANC, a 20-year-old man, died of what is presumed to be natural causes in Struisbaai. I want to use this opportunity to express our sympathies to the family of this young man.
“It is always sad when this happens. According to the information we have, there were no health issues. This is quite sudden and now you have a grieving family,” he said.
Struisbaai is a coastal settlement in the Overberg region of the Western Cape.
No election disruptions reported in the Western Cape
Sampson said, meanwhile, that according to the information at his disposal, there had been no incidents related to the disruption of polls due to unrest that was reported in the province.
He said while there were anticipated disruptions in some areas, those did not transpire.
“I would also just like to say that the processes are running relatively smooth out there at the moment. It is just over two hours left before the voting closed.
“Either than the little things that go together with election management, there hasn’t been anything more significant than that,” said Sampson, acknowledging that there might be building up of queues in some voting stations.
He called on those who are yet to cast their votes to exercise patience.
Those who are in queues at the time of closing at 7pm will be allowed to vote. Those who arrive after 7pm will not be allowed to vote.
“At 7pm, a boundary will be created to include those who are already there and then those who are inside the boundary will be allowed to cast their vote,” Sampson said.
