S-Africa’s Zuma urges citizens to vote in elections

S-Africa’s Zuma urges citizens to vote in elections
Funke Atohengbe, South Africa

South Africa's President, Jacob Zuma, has called on all South Africans to follow the example of former President Nelson Mandela's by exercising their civic rights during the local government elections coming up on Wednesday.

Zuma spoke shortly after former President Mandela cast his vote at his home in Houghton on Monday.

Patriotic zeal

Mandela had to cast his vote at home because of the state of his health which caused concern in February when he was admitted at the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg for complications related to his respiratory system.

"The first President of the free and democratic South Africa has led by example, we must now learn from him as we always do and go out in our millions to vote,” Zuma said.

"We have been assured by the IEC and relevant government departments that all systems are in place, and stations will be ready for every registered citizen on Wednesday,” said President Zuma.

Huge participation

The Chief Electoral Officer, Pansy Tlakula told reporters in Pretoria that about 240, 000 people applied for special voting on Monday at polling stations and different institutions across the country.

 "We are ready and today we began a process of a very successful special vote session and we are confident come Wednesday South Africans will heed our call and exercise their right to vote in this election," said Tlakula.

 This years' local election is said to be the most contested since 1994 and analysts say people were likely to come out in numbers to make their choices following rolling service delivery protests in most parts of the country.

The Independent Electoral Commission said about 70.5 million ballot papers had been printed to be distributed to voting stations across the country.

Williams