Mr Speaker, the referendum of the town of Matatiele is under way, and it has thus far been fraught with problems and controversy. Firstly, there was confusion over when people were allowed to cast their votes. Four days were set aside in 162 voting districts, which were grouped into two of 81 each. The first set was meant to vote on Wednesday and Thursday, and the second on Friday and Saturday.
Matatiele was meant to fall into the second group voting on Friday. However, the polling stations at Matatiele were opened on Wednesday instead of Friday, causing huge confusion in the community. After heated arguments, objections were received from the ANC and the SACP, and a station closed at 11:10. Not all voters were able to cast their votes as a result.
Secondly, the normal Electoral Act rules were not applied. Ballot boxes were not sealed and the anonymity of voters was not upheld, as the forms on which the voters had to cast their votes had the ID numbers and the zip code on them.
Finally, I've also been reliably informed that at the bottom of the ballot paper there was a box which was marked to indicate whether the voter was a registered voter or not.
We want the referendum to go ahead, but we believe that this referendum has so far not been conducted fairly and could leave voters open to intimidation. It's not necessary to know what they voted for and what their decision was. We call on government to apply normal electoral rules to this referendum and not to confuse the community by further changing the days of the voting districts. Thank you. [Time expired.]