Strong winds send IEC tents flying in KZN

The IEC has been forced to relocate some voting stations in KwaZulu-Natal after strong winds blew several of its tents away.

The IEC has been forced to relocate some voting stations in KwaZulu Natal after strong winds blew several of its tents away on Wednesday afternoon.

The commission held its third press briefing for the day at the results centre at Durban’s ICC at 4pm, where provincial boss Mawethu Mosery said the weather was causing them problems.

Abaqulusi was one of the sites at which tents were blown away but Mosery said they were being reassembled and there were no injuries reported.

Tents were also blown away in Dannhauser and Utrecht, where an alternative venue had to be sought.

On the South Coast, a tent in Harding and three on the Hibiscus Coast had been blown away.

There, Mosery said, a “ spaza shop,” a church and run down school had been turned into voting stations.

“As I came to talk to you, I got a message to say a school roof had been blown. I don’t recall the name,” he said.

In eThekwini, a few stations had been affected including Gleblands Hostel in Umlazi.

But Mosery said voting was continuing here as the tents were just substations and Glebelands Hall was the main voting station.

The commission was prepared to work during the night and had 1 200 lights, provided by the Department of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs, were already at voting stations throughout the province.

They had enough batteries to run until the morning, Mosery said.

“If we run out at 4am, we will take a short nap,” he joked.

The commission was hopeful it would complete the counting process by the early hours of Thursday morning.

Elections Bureau