Overview
- The IEC said voting stations opened broadly on Wednesday and that about 12 million people had cast ballots by 5pm, with Gauteng, KwaZulu‑Natal and the Western Cape reporting the largest totals.
- The commission deployed roughly 188,000 trained election staff and 53,000 tested voter‑management devices to speed processing and reduce queues, and officials said there were no reports of widespread VMD failures.
- Counting will begin at each voting station after polls close at 9pm, with ballots checked for the IEC security stamp, results slips completed in duplicate, photographed by party agents and scanned at local IEC offices for independent verification and audit.
- Localised integrity issues are under investigation: unused ballots and a stamp were reported stolen in eThekwini with a SAPS case opened, and an unsealed/burst ballot box in Daniëlskuil had sealed envelopes moved into a replacement box with no foul play suspected.
- Northern Cape officials credited multiple service points and improved technology for short queues and projected turnout near 55 percent, and the IEC urged voters to remain patient and to report registration or demarcation disputes to the commission or the Electoral Court.