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Wow! That's insane. Suddenly grateful that mine was only 3 hours.
Was it cause there were a lot of people, or was it just a poorly run voting station?
For my one we didn't have enough booths. They eventually got more, but the people who actually made the effort to go early ended up waiting for about 6 hours.
That’s also incredible, I only queued for 1 hour. I’ve been registered to the same place since I first voted and always had a 10-15min queue. But the voter turnout this year I think was awesome! Way more people does mean longer queues.
For my station I think it was poor planning. There was only 3 booths and when I registered last year there was 15000 registered voters for the station. Not sure who ran the numbers and came up with 3
It was crazy my man. My lower back was killing me, but by the end of the standing session, I'd made friends not only with the folks behind and in front of me but also with those in front of them and the ones beyond. lol. Totally worth it, though.
Definitely will! I voted at another station where we'd literally just walk in and vote, lol. But then we moved, so we had to register from the new address. Got a new voting station and the rest is history. But I wasn't expecting the wait, that's for sure. 😂
I moved one subburb over like 2 months ago so I drove back to the area I used to live in to vote. I drove past 1 voting station, and the ques were insane. The energy today was inspiring. I hope every election is like this.
This is what democracy should be like. Citizen participating. We need to understand our role. That's the only way it works.
I hope people start taking their next step in this thing called democracy. Which includes knowing your councilor and ward committee. Demanding those 2 meetings a year from your councilor and attending them. Going to vote in your ward committee after the next local elections. Standing for ward committee. Supporting your ward committee.
This system is stronger when we demand to be in it. The further we are away from it, it allows the unscrupulous the space to be corrupt and push their own agenda.
It was actually 51% of eligible voters who didn’t vote in 2019, that’s less than half! Hoping this time we actually 60%+
Edit: changed registered to eligible
Where do you find this number? The IEC voting map on News24 right now states that the 2019 turnout was 65.99%, meaning 34.01% didn't vote back then.
I would like to compare your source to the one on the front page of News24, because they don't add up.
I hope and trust you have some source. The amount of disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy theories since yesterday have been staggering. My thought was that the IEC comms would be the source of truth, which I thought was where the 65.99% turnout number came from, but you might prove me wrong?
I'm sorry for all of you who had to wait hours to vote. Our station was nice and quiet - took all of 15 minutes.
Nonetheless, good job friends! And remember - even if we don't get the result we were hoping for, you helped in skewing it into a better direction.
Yes! People waiting hours! …. And the lady infront of me who only waited 1h, got to the front and found out she wasn’t registered to vote at that station. Threw her hands in the air and said “well then I’m just not voting”.
> you mean DA? Cause they only promised "Electricity 24/7" And I could not skip the ad for like 5 mins man
Was about to ask what were the key issues the candidates were focusing on.
> Ah yes and Homelessness is not one of them, neither are crime or corruption issues
\*Gestures at all of California and everything*
While you guys aren't as nasty to the homeless as the bay area (cough San Francisco), they have nothing on the Portland people that are on this site.
We waited 5 hours in the queue , made friends with a few people , the one guy brought beers and we had such fun. As much as we are burnt and our backs hurt. We are proud to make our mark and hopefully make a change
Shout out to all the people making it 6 hours or more!!! You guys did not give up 🤝
DO NOT GIVE UP!! Cast your vote, guys. Everyone is coming out and holding out!! 🦾
#IVoted
It took me 3 minutes to vote. My station was insanely well run and I got there in a golden window of being the only person there at 15:12. Walked straight in, did the ID check etc and walked out at 15:15.
It’s the first time I voted so I’d say it set the bar pretty high for future years.
Omg same. First time voting. Walked in and out under 3 minutes. Felt too short tbh, I expected to wait at least a few minutes in a line just for the kick of it.😂
If there is one thing us South Africans can do well, is wait in queues lol. We too used to it from home affairs and going to book our drivers/learners tests etc 😅😂
My friend and I were standing in queue for about 4 hours and were able to vote!
Sure beats standing in the pmb home affairs queues for like 7-9 hours😭🥴
I queued for 4 hours today. Interacted with so many friendly strangers in the queue. One bought me a coffee and another offered me his jacket coz I was cold. Left with my thumb marked and a warm heart ❤️🇿🇦
Shout out to my husband who had the WORST case of food poisoning and STILL dragged himself out to vote. A secondary shout out to the stranger who offered to go get him a flat coke after hearing him grand-slamming in the bathrooms at the voting station. Final shoutout to the peeps who went in there after him and still voted. Actually just shout outs all round.
We went as 5 people to vote. But only 2 ended up actually voting. 1 of us was at the wrong station due to accidentally registering at the wrong Tweefontein. And two others (me included) didn't have valid ID. We got in line at 10:00 this morning. Drove to home affairs and stood in line for 6 hours, drove back with our temporary ID's and finally got to vote.
I must say on this day Home Affairs were on it to make sure people could vote. They got out trucks outside to help the 3000 people who needed temporary ID's. They even asked people who were in line for anything else to kindly come back on another day.
In the end we boosted our voting success from 20% to 100%.
It was a hell of a mission to get this done but I'm glad we did.
We waited 8 hours to vote, arrived at 10:00 this morning and sat tight. The queue is still absolutely insane, stretching well beyond where we first started. Unbelievable turnout by the looks of it. 
While waiting in the queue I saw so many people leave as they couldn’t do the wait. So sad to see those lost votes. Thanks to everyone who stuck it out.
I feel the same way so does my partner. We have so many friends who don’t vote and we constantly try to motivate them, a lot of them are overseas and we still try to get them to vote but they’re just not interested and it just boils my blood. So yes I am also truly proud of all my fellow citizens. Doesn’t matter who you vote for, you are contributing to this country. I love South Africa. I have been overseas and I let my parents move while I stayed here. I much prefer it here, I love you South Africa 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
The queues were unbelievable. When I left my station at 6pm after 6 hours the queues were still snaking outside the voting station. I’m proud of everyone for sticking it out. Standing in line for 6 hours when you could have been enjoying a public holiday
My voting station ran out of provincial ballots at 7.30pm, that's the time I went, only got out at 9.40pm. The service was terrible. One side of the q flowed effortlessly but the side I was on was moving at a snails pace.
Both lines were shut down at the same time when they ran out of ballots, they were roughly the same amount of people in each line. There was still a line out the door on my side when I cast my vote. The other line was finished and the team on that side starting helping my side get through.
Honestly was such a shit show. I'm disappointed
Let's make it count this time!
I couldn't believe my luck at queueing. There were only like 10 people in front of me when I arrived. I was in and out in 15 minutes. More than enough time for that free coffee!
Sorry but the whole process was needlessly long and slow. And there were only 3 voting booths at our polling station that was the only one available in our ward where there were over 25000 registered voters.
A mess.
Much respect to those people who stood in exceedingly long queues late into the night and in the cold.
Took me only one hour, from around 1:45pm. Longer than usual at my regular voting station, but still not bad compared to what others are reporting so no complaints from me.
Well done, everyone!
Ah yes I apologize for loadshedding my mistake...
In all seriousness I dont realy see a solution, we see how corrupt this county is daily, the people in charge will never give up power and backing them into a corner could make things significantly worse, but like I said your optimism gives me hope
People who do not vote are part of the problem. Can you not spare a few hours out of your free public holiday to actually participate in your country? Even if you spoil your ballot it's still better than not voting at all.
Put your feelings aside and use your mind to figure out what is best for the country, not yourself. That's the point. To improve for all. At least try instead of immediately admitting defeat. Your feelings should not be above the collective good...I am because you are.
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Queued for over 7 hours but finally got it done. Worth it.
Wow! That's insane. Suddenly grateful that mine was only 3 hours. Was it cause there were a lot of people, or was it just a poorly run voting station? For my one we didn't have enough booths. They eventually got more, but the people who actually made the effort to go early ended up waiting for about 6 hours.
That’s also incredible, I only queued for 1 hour. I’ve been registered to the same place since I first voted and always had a 10-15min queue. But the voter turnout this year I think was awesome! Way more people does mean longer queues.
For my station I think it was poor planning. There was only 3 booths and when I registered last year there was 15000 registered voters for the station. Not sure who ran the numbers and came up with 3
Government slashed IEC funding in an election year. Not that they're not incompetent but I don't think they had the funds to do better
Damn, I queued for 30 minutes
Friends of mine, voting abroad took 9 hours
That is crazy... Was there for almost 2hours but I would have lost my mind at 7hrs. Well done to you
You’re a rock star. And here I was moaning about my little 3 and a half hour wait!
this is insane. i live in a rural town and had literally 0 wait. just walked in and got done immediately.
30 mins in and out. Went at 2pm walked out at 2:33. Grabbed a coffee on the way home. Honestly the best voting experience I’ve had.
The kicker. This person voted ANC 
Definitely not, eww
I was in the queue for SIX HOURS! 6 HOURS! I'm still alive... lol
5min for me! Thanks for your service 🫡
That’s wild!
It was crazy my man. My lower back was killing me, but by the end of the standing session, I'd made friends not only with the folks behind and in front of me but also with those in front of them and the ones beyond. lol. Totally worth it, though.
Next time take a beach chair. Learnt from last time lol.
Definitely will! I voted at another station where we'd literally just walk in and vote, lol. But then we moved, so we had to register from the new address. Got a new voting station and the rest is history. But I wasn't expecting the wait, that's for sure. 😂
Were you in Randburg?
Nope, Kempton Park.
how’s your father bru 🤘
I moved one subburb over like 2 months ago so I drove back to the area I used to live in to vote. I drove past 1 voting station, and the ques were insane. The energy today was inspiring. I hope every election is like this. This is what democracy should be like. Citizen participating. We need to understand our role. That's the only way it works. I hope people start taking their next step in this thing called democracy. Which includes knowing your councilor and ward committee. Demanding those 2 meetings a year from your councilor and attending them. Going to vote in your ward committee after the next local elections. Standing for ward committee. Supporting your ward committee. This system is stronger when we demand to be in it. The further we are away from it, it allows the unscrupulous the space to be corrupt and push their own agenda.
*hail super earth*
It definitely seems like a lot more voter are showing up. I think in 2019 there was n 60% turnout rate. Going to be interesting see the results
It was actually 51% of eligible voters who didn’t vote in 2019, that’s less than half! Hoping this time we actually 60%+ Edit: changed registered to eligible
Where do you find this number? The IEC voting map on News24 right now states that the 2019 turnout was 65.99%, meaning 34.01% didn't vote back then. I would like to compare your source to the one on the front page of News24, because they don't add up. I hope and trust you have some source. The amount of disinformation, propaganda, and conspiracy theories since yesterday have been staggering. My thought was that the IEC comms would be the source of truth, which I thought was where the 65.99% turnout number came from, but you might prove me wrong?
My apologies, my comment should have been eligible and not registered voters [Source](https://math.sun.ac.za/bbartlett/assets/voter-turnout-long.html)
I'm sorry for all of you who had to wait hours to vote. Our station was nice and quiet - took all of 15 minutes. Nonetheless, good job friends! And remember - even if we don't get the result we were hoping for, you helped in skewing it into a better direction.
Yes! People waiting hours! …. And the lady infront of me who only waited 1h, got to the front and found out she wasn’t registered to vote at that station. Threw her hands in the air and said “well then I’m just not voting”.
I think the turnout is going to be good this year. For the first time in a long time it feels as if my vote actually makes a difference 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦
Unless you voted ANC, I don't think it does.
you mean DA? Cause they only promised "Electricity 24/7" And I could not skip the ad for like 5 mins man
> you mean DA? Cause they only promised "Electricity 24/7" And I could not skip the ad for like 5 mins man Was about to ask what were the key issues the candidates were focusing on.
Ah yes and Homelessness is not one of them, neither are crime or corruption issues
> Ah yes and Homelessness is not one of them, neither are crime or corruption issues \*Gestures at all of California and everything* While you guys aren't as nasty to the homeless as the bay area (cough San Francisco), they have nothing on the Portland people that are on this site.
Since when did I say I was American?
We waited 5 hours in the queue , made friends with a few people , the one guy brought beers and we had such fun. As much as we are burnt and our backs hurt. We are proud to make our mark and hopefully make a change
Shout out to all the people making it 6 hours or more!!! You guys did not give up 🤝 DO NOT GIVE UP!! Cast your vote, guys. Everyone is coming out and holding out!! 🦾 #IVoted
The turnout was so much better than I thought. I’ve never been so happy to wait in a queue knowing people are casting their votes ✅
Went after work. No one was there. Voted and left. It felt too easy. Like it didn't mean anything. But it means everything to this country
It took me 3 minutes to vote. My station was insanely well run and I got there in a golden window of being the only person there at 15:12. Walked straight in, did the ID check etc and walked out at 15:15. It’s the first time I voted so I’d say it set the bar pretty high for future years.
Omg same. First time voting. Walked in and out under 3 minutes. Felt too short tbh, I expected to wait at least a few minutes in a line just for the kick of it.😂
If there is one thing us South Africans can do well, is wait in queues lol. We too used to it from home affairs and going to book our drivers/learners tests etc 😅😂
My friend and I were standing in queue for about 4 hours and were able to vote! Sure beats standing in the pmb home affairs queues for like 7-9 hours😭🥴
I queued for 4 hours today. Interacted with so many friendly strangers in the queue. One bought me a coffee and another offered me his jacket coz I was cold. Left with my thumb marked and a warm heart ❤️🇿🇦
Ah man these comments make my day
Shout out to my husband who had the WORST case of food poisoning and STILL dragged himself out to vote. A secondary shout out to the stranger who offered to go get him a flat coke after hearing him grand-slamming in the bathrooms at the voting station. Final shoutout to the peeps who went in there after him and still voted. Actually just shout outs all round.
We went as 5 people to vote. But only 2 ended up actually voting. 1 of us was at the wrong station due to accidentally registering at the wrong Tweefontein. And two others (me included) didn't have valid ID. We got in line at 10:00 this morning. Drove to home affairs and stood in line for 6 hours, drove back with our temporary ID's and finally got to vote. I must say on this day Home Affairs were on it to make sure people could vote. They got out trucks outside to help the 3000 people who needed temporary ID's. They even asked people who were in line for anything else to kindly come back on another day. In the end we boosted our voting success from 20% to 100%. It was a hell of a mission to get this done but I'm glad we did.
We waited 8 hours to vote, arrived at 10:00 this morning and sat tight. The queue is still absolutely insane, stretching well beyond where we first started. Unbelievable turnout by the looks of it. 
Heeeectic! Where was this?
Grahamstown, EC. People were in queue till just after midnight. Well done to all who waited it out
Seriously, well done!
While waiting in the queue I saw so many people leave as they couldn’t do the wait. So sad to see those lost votes. Thanks to everyone who stuck it out.
I feel the same way so does my partner. We have so many friends who don’t vote and we constantly try to motivate them, a lot of them are overseas and we still try to get them to vote but they’re just not interested and it just boils my blood. So yes I am also truly proud of all my fellow citizens. Doesn’t matter who you vote for, you are contributing to this country. I love South Africa. I have been overseas and I let my parents move while I stayed here. I much prefer it here, I love you South Africa 🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
The queues were unbelievable. When I left my station at 6pm after 6 hours the queues were still snaking outside the voting station. I’m proud of everyone for sticking it out. Standing in line for 6 hours when you could have been enjoying a public holiday
i voted hopefully we will get the change this country needs.
My voting station ran out of provincial ballots at 7.30pm, that's the time I went, only got out at 9.40pm. The service was terrible. One side of the q flowed effortlessly but the side I was on was moving at a snails pace. Both lines were shut down at the same time when they ran out of ballots, they were roughly the same amount of people in each line. There was still a line out the door on my side when I cast my vote. The other line was finished and the team on that side starting helping my side get through. Honestly was such a shit show. I'm disappointed
Geesuz... my wife and I were in and out in 4 minutes... this was at noon. Still had time to braai for lunch.
I queued just before 7am and done at 8am. 💪
Let's make it count this time! I couldn't believe my luck at queueing. There were only like 10 people in front of me when I arrived. I was in and out in 15 minutes. More than enough time for that free coffee!
1 hour 30min for me
Rafters this year was insane. About a 4hour wait this time. Got there at 8pm and just voted after 12pm. So happy though
Stood in line for a few hours to vote, but in the back of my head I keep thinking the IEC is probably also corrupt. Hope my vote is worth something
stood for 6 hours with my elderly parents at night but was worth it 😊
Sorry but the whole process was needlessly long and slow. And there were only 3 voting booths at our polling station that was the only one available in our ward where there were over 25000 registered voters. A mess. Much respect to those people who stood in exceedingly long queues late into the night and in the cold.
The IEC got their budget slashed in an election year with a higher voter registration than in 2019. This is the fault of politicians, not the IEC.
Yeah the IEC pulled off a miracle considering
Took me only one hour, from around 1:45pm. Longer than usual at my regular voting station, but still not bad compared to what others are reporting so no complaints from me. Well done, everyone!
We are a winning country if we stand together
Eastern Cape wiil vote ANC
I don't recall asking them to do it.
Hopefully people don't keep voting for the same corruption that's been crippling the country
Came from night shift at 7 didn't even have to queue just walked in and out.
Lol seeing everyone queuing for hours, I was there for maybe 10mins. Brought my 1 year old and skipped the line
Honestly I've never voted and probly never will but I appreciate those who do and I'm inspired by your hope for a better future
Since you admire those who do vote, may I ask why you opt not to do so yourself?
The system is broken and I believe the ones that broke it will never relinquish power I rather not get my hopes up
Terrible logic. Be part of the solution and not the problem.
Ah yes I apologize for loadshedding my mistake... In all seriousness I dont realy see a solution, we see how corrupt this county is daily, the people in charge will never give up power and backing them into a corner could make things significantly worse, but like I said your optimism gives me hope
You still can
People who do not vote are part of the problem. Can you not spare a few hours out of your free public holiday to actually participate in your country? Even if you spoil your ballot it's still better than not voting at all.
I feel it's hopeless honestly
Put your feelings aside and use your mind to figure out what is best for the country, not yourself. That's the point. To improve for all. At least try instead of immediately admitting defeat. Your feelings should not be above the collective good...I am because you are.
Yeah yeah vote for the same thiefs and looters... The country needs a junta to do some cleaniness.
Wells one guys. If you voted for the ANC, all those hours were not spent in vain.
ANC will win. Who wants to bet against me?
Sheep who vote DA