Problems Force Extension of S. Africa Vote

Massive distribution problems, ballot shortages, long lines of voters and allegations of sabotage in South Africa’s first democratic elections forced officials Thursday to extend voting for an extra day today in the Zulu heartland and five other rural regions.

The decision, approved by President Frederik W. de Klerk and other political leaders, came amid reports of wide problems, though no serious violence, at hundreds of the nearly 10,000 polling stations.

Millions of South Africans turned up to cast ballots Thursday, which was to be the final day of national voting. But election officials said ballot papers did not arrive at numerous polling sites in six regions, especially in remote villages, until late Thursday afternoon, just hours before they were due to close.

“We have strong evidence of substantial inadequacy in the voting” in those regions, said Johann Kriegler, head of the country’s Independent Electoral Commission. He placed most of the blame on the commission itself, which had been unable to get enough ballots to some areas.

“Because of (our) difficulties in provisioning these areas, the voters there have not had a fair and free opportunity to express their views,” Kriegler said.

The extension was welcomed by most political parties, including the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party. It reflected the determination of political leaders and the electoral commission to forestall challenges to the elections and remove doubts about whether the polling was free and fair.

“We must be able to say that all South Africans who wish to vote, and were prepared to take the trouble to vote, were given the opportunity,” said De Klerk, who issued the formal decree extending voting. “If we don’t achieve that, then the election result will, right from the beginning, be in total jeopardy. And it would be the beginning of conflict and strife.”

He said many South Africans “feel somewhat disillusioned because of irregularities that have occurred here and there.” But he urged them to accept the extension. “We’ve got to make this election work,” he said. “If we don’t get a 100% perfect election, let us strive to achieve 95% and let us live with it.”

The Independent Election Commission, which must eventually decide whether the elections have been free and fair, said it was satisfied that South Africans who wanted to vote were able to cast ballots by the time polls closed Thursday in most parts of the country. Many polls, which experienced shortages of ballots or greater-than-expected numbers of voters, stayed open well past the 7 p.m. closing time.

But the voting had been seriously disrupted by shortages of voting materials in remote regions of six former black homelands. As a result, the polls will reopen today at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. in the eastern region of KwaZulu, in Natal province; in Transkei and Ciskei in the southeast, and in the region encompassing Lebowa, Gazankulu and Venda in the northern Transvaal.

Election officials declined to say how many of the 21.7 million potential voters, about 18 million of whom are black, had voted when polls closed officially Thursday night. About 2 million potential voters live in the areas where polls will reopen today.

The extension of voting will mean a delay in the vote count, which is scheduled to begin Saturday and continue around-the-clock until a final result is available, probably on Sunday. At De Klerk’s insistence, the votes cast today will be counted separately, in case of later questions about the polling.

But even the extra day will not protect the election results from challenges, officials acknowledged. The election commission said it had received hundreds of complaints of voting irregularities from every political party. Some related to late arrival of ballots; others concerned everything from allegations of biased conduct by election officers to missing ballot boxes.

ANC President Nelson Mandela complained Thursday of “massive sabotage” at polling stations. Although his aides said the president had spoken out of frustration, Jay Naidoo, an ANC official, said the party had lodged numerous complaints with the election commission. Among other things, the ANC contends that in some areas of KwaZulu, police and other officials from Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi’s outgoing homeland administration were intimidating voters. Naidoo also claimed Inkatha supporters had created “pirate polling stations.”

Inkatha’s national political director, Ziba Jiyane, denied the charge and countered that the ANC was “panicking because Inkatha is about to deliver a resounding victory.” Inkatha had complaints too, most of which centered on hundreds of polling stations where votes were cast on ballots that did not carry the party’s name. Inkatha agreed to join the elections just a week ago; election officials had promised to add an Inkatha sticker to the bottom of each ballot.

The electoral commission urged election officers to allow voters to write in Inkatha, and it said a decision would be made later on whether to accept such ballots. More than 9 million new ballots with Inkatha’s name were printed overnight Wednesday and distributed by planes and helicopters across the country early Thursday.

Election officials said all complaints will be investigated, and the electoral commission asked the South African police to investigate the commission’s own distribution procedures.

Despite the difficulties, many South Africans were heartened by the tranquillity that prevailed as they went to the polls for a final day, and a new, upbeat mood was evident across the land.

“The vast majority of people have participated in this historic event in a remarkably disciplined and calm way,” the ANC’s Naidoo said. “The people, both black and white, are now united in their desire to build a new South Africa.”

De Klerk said he was surprised to see “an atmosphere so much different from the atmosphere only a week before. It’s almost as if the election has breathed an air of reconciliation. And that is what the country needs.”

The bomb blasts of earlier in the week, allegedly the work of right-wing whites bent on disrupting the elections, were largely forgotten with the arrest of 31 whites linked to the armed wing of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement.

That group’s leader, Eugene Terreblanche, used the time-honored theme of swart gevaar , or black danger, to exhort followers Thursday to prepare for battle against the new government.

“From next week, we are not resisting the white National Party,” he said. “We are preparing ourselves to resist the radical black Communists, who we know will try to drive us out.”

Despite Terreblanche’s warnings, most South Africans were more confident than ever before that their elections had been a success.

The long waits of Wednesday, when millions turned out the vote and many were turned away, were gone in many areas on Thursday. A radio station was sending out regular “voter traffic reports” from its traffic helicopter, advising where the lines were shortest.

On the East Rand, a volatile region of black townships southeast of Johannesburg, dozens of polls that had been closed on Wednesday for lack of ballots and voting materials were open Thursday.

In Thokoza, where hundreds of blacks have died in fighting between ANC and Inkatha supporters, the streets were quiet. Bongi Msimang, the presiding officer at a voting station there, had to fight back angry crowds Wednesday, when ballots failed to arrive. But on Thursday she was awakened at 4 a.m. by a delivery of newly printed ballots. And, by midday, more than 1,500 people had voted there and a long line had dwindled to a few dozen people.

“It’s much better today,” Msimang said. “I am confident everyone will get the chance to vote here today.”

Hernos Khumalo, a 50-year-old factory worker, had waited all day Wednesday to vote, only to be told the ballots had not arrived. But, like tens of thousands of South Africans, he was back Thursday and able to vote.

“Yesterday, I was so upset,” Khumalo said. But, he added with a smile, “today it is marvelous. We’re all voting now.”