Citizens of the Eastern Cape have been given the assurance by the police and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) that they will be able to cast their votes on Wednesday.
This comes despite the recent severe floods in parts of the province and threats of disruptions.
Arrangements have been made to ensure that temporary access roads and bridges will be built by the army and police will be on hand to assist where necessary.
By Sunday afternoon, the main IEC centre for the province was opened and operating in East London.
IEC officials in the Eastern Cape will be part of the teams monitoring and running the 4 791 polling stations in the Province over the next few days.
It is an obligation of IEC to ensure each South African citizen who is eligible to vote does so freely and fairly on Wednesday.
IEC provincial Executive Officer Khayakazi Magudumane says, “As the province we are ready. We just launched our ROC and we’ve just confirmed with the political parties that we’re indeed ready. We have done all the collection of material and picked and packed the materials. They are ready for collection in the morning to all the voting stations that are affected by special votes. We’ve trained and done with training.”
The Department of home affairs also pledged support for those who lost their identity documents. Gcinile Mabhulu who is the Eastern Cape home affairs provincial manager says “Home affairs is ready and working overtime to assist those that lost their documents during floods.”
The EC Police Commissioner also issued a stern warning to disrupters. Liziwe Ntshinga says her department is more than ready to face the elections. “We have identified all the hotspots and the intelligence is doing all the ground work,” says Ntshinga.
A strong message was also sent to those with any intention of intimidation or disruptive behaviour that the police will not hesitate to take action.
