Pretoria – With just less than 24 hours before South Africans make their way to the polls, the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria is pulsating with activity on the eve of Election Day.
The ROC, which is the nerve centre for vote counting, officially opened its doors on Wednesday 27 July and it has since hosted scores of electoral staff, political party representatives and journalists.
Various political parties have today sent their representatives to conduct walkabouts at the ROC. Parties participating in the fourth democratic Local Government Elections are also allocated space at the ROC so they can monitor results from the polls as they come in.
President Jacob Zuma is also expected to visit the ROC this afternoon at 2pm.
Staff from the Electoral Commission (IEC) at the centre are hard at work ensuring that everything is ready for the big day.
A view from the ROC
The ROC is 12 000 square metres in size and contains about 450 computers, with over 20 kilometres of data, fibre and telephone cabling.
The centre will for the next few days become the home for political parties, observers and the media.
The results screen has been put up at the lower level of the centre and seating arrangements for political parties have also been completed, with three chairs allocated at each table.
Some political party members at the ROC told SAnews that they were satisfied with the seating arrangements at the centre and commended the Electoral Commission for doing a good job with regards to planning and preparing for the elections.
Media houses have also moved into their allocated office spaces, where they will report on the country’s municipal elections.
South Africa will on Wednesday hold its fifth democratic Municipal Elections. President Jacob Zuma has declared 3 August 2016 a national holiday to give all eligible South Africans a chance to vote.
The Electoral Commission has 26 333 3535 million voters on the voters’ roll. This is approximately 77 percent of the eligible voting population.
The 2016 Municipal Elections are an opportunity for South Africans to have a direct say in who runs their community and ward. The councillors South Africans elect will serve on the town, city, metropolitan and district councils.
About 100 000 officers will be on election duty on election day. Over 50 000 police officers will be on duty at voting stations across the country, while the rest will be mobile so they can respond to situations should they occur.
Police will also be deployed to known hotspots. – SAnews.gov.za
