Deputy President Paul Mashatile and his wife Humile voted on Wednesday morning at the St Johannes Lutheran Church in Kelvin, Sandton.
The deputy president was welcomed by scores of ANC supporters at the voting station.
Security was tight at the voting station, with a police Nyala and more than 10 members of the local Community Policing Forum stationed inside.
The Nyala left the station about 30 minutes after Mashatile left with his contingent.
There were also long queues as South Africans came out in their numbers to make their mark.
Speaking to the media after casting his vote, Mashatile said they were urging South Africans to come out in their numbers and vote.
“I am pleased that most of the voting stations in the country are open. There may be glitches here and there, but we call on all South Africans to go out there and exercise their right to vote, this is a right that we all fought hard for as South Africans.
“After 30 years of democracy, we still remain a very strong democratic country and our votes will make sure that we sustain that.
“I am very happy that most parts of the country the elections are proceeding peacefully, and we do hope that by the end of the voting process, everything would have gone well and that South Africans would have exercised their rights,” he said.
On the issue of security, Mashatile said they were not nervous at all as they had been assured by the police through NATJOINTS that security would be in place to allow South Africans to vote peacefully.
“We are not nervous at all, I think we have got our plans in place,” he said.
Mashatile is also expected to conduct site visits at voting stations in Alexandra.
The presiding officer at the St Johannes Lutheran Church voting station, Nancy Sebatjie, said the voting station opened promptly at 7am.
She said they had one voter management device, which was working efficiently.
There were long queues at the voting station, with election staff assisting older people to skip the queue.
She said over 1,500 people are expected to vote at this voting station.
The ANC is vying for a 50% majority win in the elections, but several election polls have predicted a performance below 50%.
South Africans have until 9pm on Wednesday night to decide. Voters are reminded they can only vote at the voting stations where their names appear on the voters’ roll.
IOL News