Pretoria – South Africans across the country can brace themselves for a cold, wet, rainy and snowy Election Day.
Voters are being advised to layer up before they go to their voting station which opened at 7am.
According to the South African Weather Service, the Cape provinces can expect cold and rainy conditions, with the possibility of snow over high lying areas that could even be disruptive.
“A cold front is expected to be over the central through to the south-eastern parts of the country by midday on Wednesday, resulting in cold to very cold, wet and windy conditions over the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape Provinces,” the South African Weather Service said.
The cold front is expected to reach Gauteng on Wednesday evening.
According to the weather forecast, showers and rain can be expected to dominate over the Western Cape and Eastern Cape as well as the southern parts of the Northern Cape, and are expected to reach southern KwaZulu-Natal by late afternoon.
“Light snowfalls are expected on the high peaks of the Western and Eastern Cape mountains, but could become disruptive over the north-eastern high ground of the Eastern Cape (southern Drakensberg) by the afternoon and evening,” the South African Weather Service said.
The daytime temperatures will be cold to very cold over the southern and central parts but mild to warm in the northern and eastern parts ahead of the cold front.
Strong and dry winds are also expected ahead of the cold front over the Free State, North West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga as well as the western and northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
With over 200 political parties and over 61 000 candidates participating in the country’s fifth Municipal Elections, over 26.3 million registered South Africans will put their crosses next to the name of the individuals and parties of their choice to serve their communities with honesty, integrity and commitment.
President Jacob Zuma has urged all registered voters, especially the youth, to go out and cast their ballots across the 22 612 voting stations.
It is important to remember that you are not allowed to photograph your marked ballot paper. And, you are not allowed to share it on social media. – SAnews.gov.za
