Special voting for the 4 November local elections began on Monday, with the Electoral Commission (IEC) reporting that close to 99% of voting stations opened on time at 08:00.
Masego Shiburi, the commission’s Deputy Chief Electoral Commissioner, said the figure at a media briefing at the results operations centre in Midrand. He said voters were being assisted smoothly in most cases, with handheld barcode scanners linked to the voter management devices.
The exception was Cape Town. Michael Hendrickse, the Western Cape Provincial Electoral Officer, said there had been “an unforeseen delay in the delivery of Special Vote ballots in some areas”, and that 217 voting stations in the Cape Metro could not open at 08:00. He said the stations were opening as ballots arrived, and that stations in the outer regions of the province were working smoothly.
The commission’s national briefing gave a second measure. At 10:30, special voting had opened in only 10 of the City of Cape Town’s 116 wards, according to the SAnews report of the briefing. The commission said it was working to open the rest.
The commission also reported two serious incidents involving its staff. A deputy presiding officer in the uKhahlamba district was hit by a car on the way to a station and taken to hospital. A presiding officer in North West died after collapsing at her post. The commission said it was supporting the officials and their families.
Source: Electoral Commission briefing of 14 October 2026, as reported by SAnews. Figures captured at the time of the briefing. Chart: Rand Desk
Hendrickse said the commission would make sure approved voters could vote across the two days. At the national briefing, the commission said special voting stations stay open until 17:00 on Monday and Tuesday. A station whose approved voters have all been served may close after day one, then reopen on 4 November for ordinary voting.
How many are voting
The commission approved 2,655,067 special vote applications (see our report on the approvals), a 131% increase on the 1,147,759 approved in 2021. Of those, 678,525 are home visits for voters who cannot travel because of physical infirmity or disability.
Gauteng has the most approved applications at 480,721, followed by the Eastern Cape at 401,971 and KwaZulu-Natal at 348,971. Those are the figures the commission gave on 14 October, while it was still capturing manually submitted forms.
In Mpumalanga, 292,775 voters were expected to cast special votes on the two days, SAnews reported, and Premier Mandla Ndlovu urged all eligible voters to take part. The province has 2,170,139 of the 29.2 million registered voters, or 7.42% of the national roll,.
Voters can check their station and roll sequence number by WhatsApp on 0600 88 0000, by SMS to 32810 (R1 a message) or on the IEC’s zero-rated website. The IEC contact centre on 0800 11 8000 answers from 07:00 to 19:00 on Monday and Tuesday, and until 21:00 on Wednesday.
Special voting continues on Tuesday, 3 November, with stations open until 17:00, and Election Day is Wednesday, 4 November.
