Queues from 6am, an hour and a half to settle: observer backs IEC funding after voting day
Defend Our Democracy observer Thandeka Sithole says the 2026 Local Government Elections were run professionally, but points to underfunding and thin queue management at peak hours.
Voters who had been standing in line since 6am at some voting stations waited while officials took about an hour and a half to get operations settled on Wednesday, according to a Defend Our Democracy election observer who nonetheless says the 2026 Local Government Elections were conducted professionally.
Thandeka Sithole, observing for the civil society movement, told SAnews (South African Government News Agency) that the problems clustered around peak hours and around the Commission’s capacity and resources. She cited inadequate queue marshals and difficulties processing voters at stations running multiple voting substations.
“In some instances, officials took about an hour and a half to get operations settled, leaving community members who had been queuing since 6am frustrated,” she said.
Her verdict on the administration was qualified rather than damning. “Overall, I am satisfied. The process was conducted in a professional way. However, we can still see the underfunding of the IEC within the process.”
She called for increased funding for the Electoral Commission of South Africa, particularly to strengthen the training of electoral officials and to improve the management of voting stations.
On turnout, Sithole said she had feared participation would fall below the 2021 local government elections, given the voter registration weekends she had been involved in over the past two or three years. She said she was happy with the overall turnout announced by the IEC. The source material does not carry the Commission’s turnout figure.
She said she saw an encouraging number of young people queuing to vote at several stations she visited in the Midrand area of Gauteng, while noting she had not yet seen the IEC’s official statistics on youth participation.
Sithole tied the outcome to the coalition arrangements now common in municipal government, arguing that many voices need to be represented in councils and that parties need to understand how to manage coalitions.
“I am also expecting all coalition agreements to be published and accessible to the public, because no deals can be done in secret about us,” she said.
Defend Our Democracy is a South African civil society movement that also promotes an active citizenry.
This report is based on SAnews’s account of its interview with Sithole, published at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/election-observer-satisfied-voting-process, and not on the Commission’s own statements or published results.
