With fresh wind, it went off with a few hitches

Gone with the wind was a recurring theme on election day – at the coast the blast, classed as a fresh gale (70km/h), affected voting station tents, which also leaked in the rain.

With two to four police officials at each voting station, no serious issues were reported.

The Summerstrand Cheshire Home and Mount Pleasant were among voting stations that had problems with temporary tents.

By midday only 1 000 of the 6 000 voters registered in the area had voted at the Cheshire Home.

Because of the tent – “unstable in the strong wind” – presiding officer Lebo Mjijwa said his team had to divert people into a voting station inside the building.

Barista Zeus Gqabu, of Mastertons Coffee, which had a caravan outside the voting station, said more than 200 cups of coffee had been sold by 3pm.

In Mount Pleasant, a tent started leaking. Party officials and residents helped by cabletying tarpaulins down and fastening poles.

Mount Pleasant presiding officer Bukeka Matinise said the leaks were fixed by 11am but the tent still had no electricity.

By midday, 1 500 of the 5 000-odd voters registered in the area had voted.

Seaview resident Bernice Strever, who voted at Elukholweni farm school, had a problem as her ID was stolen a few weeks ago.

“Home Affairs was short-staffed, but I finally got my ID. I could have let it be, but this country and city need my vote,” she said.

At the Buffelsfontein voting station, the queue was about 700 long by midday.

“It has been very busy and many people are unhappy about the cold and wet weather,” presiding officer Zolile Dayimani said.

Voter Dean Maree said he had stood in the cold for about two hours. “It is something that has to be done and it was not that bad.”

At the Forest Hill polling station, several voters complained that they were unable to vote as they were not registered in that area.

Presiding officer Vusi Nyimbinya said: “We had to redirect them and some people became aggressive.”

The queues at Walmer Town Hall were not long, with voting going smoothly all day.

By 12.30pm, Settlers Park Primary School was halfway through its voters’ roll of 1 800.

At Lower Walmer Primary, voting got off on a sour note with voters and officials bickering over why officials got to vote first.