One house, two wards

Monti Mphahlele's family is torn between two voting stations in Rustenburg's Tlhabane township.

Rustenburg - Monti Mphahlele's family is torn between two voting stations in Rustenburg's Tlhabane township.

Mphahlele, an independent candidate aligned with the community based Forum 4 Service Delivery, was banking on his relatives' vote but they won't have a chance to vote for him on Wednesday.

His home at 1499 Kwena Street, where he lives with his family, is literally split down the middle. His father, brother and sister are placed for voting in Ward 11, while Mphahlele alone will vote in Ward 7 where he stands as the Forum's candidate.

What seems to add to the Mphahleles’ confusion is that their house appears physically located in Ward 7.

The split precincts however are not uncommon, and in every election there are divided areas for a variety of reasons, including re-demarcations of boundaries.

But given that voters were required to provide their addresses to determine their voting districts, Mphahlele believes his family should not have been sent on their separate ways.

Despite the recent Constitutional Court ruling on voter addresses following the drawn-out Tlokwe debacle, only those voting in Tlokwe and Ventersdorp in the North West were required to provide addresses to register for this election.

“A lot of neighbours here have complained about the demarcation that placed them in different voting districts with no clear understanding of how it was done,” said Mphahlele. “I think it raises suspicion in people's minds and if we were using addresses then all the confusion would be cleared.”

Mphahlele said during his campaign he encountered a lot of voters who were as confused about which ward they actually belonged in.

But ANC convenor of NEC deployees in the North West, Humphrey Mmemezi, said the first rule for a person to vote is to have an ID and the second was to be registered at a voting station.

“That means whether you don't have an address, you’re staying under the tree or bridge you but you have an ID document, you have a right to vote and it must be defended,” he said.

thabiso.thakali@inl.co.za

@thabiso_tk

Elections Bureau