RC 261104702Aubrey Masango
Wednesday, 4 November 2026
Election day closed with long queues, a rule letting 9pm queue-joiners still vote, and isolated arrests and ballot irregularities, while the show dwelt on coalition expectations.
- 21:03
Anyone still in a queue when polls closed at 9pm will be allowed to vote, the IEC says, even if voting runs past closing time. Counting begins at each station once the last voter has cast a ballot.
- 23:03
In Cape Town, at least 1,000 voters were still waiting in queues when stations closed at 9pm, and the Western Cape IEC expects to clear the backlog before midnight.
- 21:04
A voting station in the Eastern Cape closed at 5pm after heavy rain washed away a bridge, and officers had to be flown in and out by helicopter. The IEC says no other stations were disrupted.
- 21:06
Limpopo police arrested three men on election-related charges: two for allegedly threatening an IEC official over a ballot box suspected of tampering, and one for photographing a marked ballot paper.
- 22:08
The IEC is concerned about the alleged theft of an authentication stamp and unused ballots from a voting station on the outskirts of eThekwini, and staff are checking ballot stamps closely.