Frustration mounted at the informal settlements of Utuseb and Farm 37, as hundreds of Walvis Bay residents flocked to mobile polling stations meant to service these areas, which are both on the outskirts of the town.
Residents of the two informal settlements expressed displeasure, resulting in a standoff between locals and voters from Walvis Bay, who had travelled to the settlements to cast their ballots.
At the Walvis Bay Airport, Reserve Forces had to be called in to contain the situation after desperate voters stormed the polling station to cast their votes. Acting chief of the Topnaar community Stoffels Anamab, who witnessed the commotion, also expressed disappointment over the situation.
He said although everyone can vote at any station, his people won’t have an opportunity to move freely to the next station, as they don’t have vehicles, unlike the Walvis Bay voters who came to the settlement.
“This is very wrong. What the ECN did is unacceptable. This was a fixed polling station in the past, and we didn’t mind people from other towns voting here. However, the mobile station was only available from 07h00 to 10h00. Instead of locals queuing up first, those who came from Walvis Bay were given priority,” he said.
He added that the short voting window created challenges for essential workers such as hospital staff, who could not leave their posts for long periods.
Another resident, Riana Kooitjie, criticised ECN for not specifying that the mobile polling station was intended for local residents.
“Our people here do not have vehicles to travel like those from Walvis Bay, who came here to vote. We should have been given the opportunity to vote first. Hopefully, ECN will make this a fixed polling station during the upcoming regional and local council’s elections,” she appealed.
Speaking to New Era, presiding officer Henock Kandjeke explained that the influx of voters at mobile polling stations caused significant delays.
“Those who couldn’t be assisted followed us from one mobile station to another. This is what happened at the Walvis Bay Airport. People from Utuseb and Ururas who couldn’t vote earlier came to the airport,” he said.
Presiding officer Shimaneni Fikameni further told New Era that voters disrupted the process at the airport by storming through the door.
“This made it difficult for us to assist airport officials, and the police had to be called in,” he said.
Farm 37
At Farm 37, similar tensions arose when Fikameni and his team arrived to find hundreds of voters from Walvis Bay queuing at the settlement.
Residents of Farm 37 refused to remove political flags displayed within a 500-metre radius of the mobile polling station, which was expected to operate from 17h00 to 21h00, but was delayed by an hour.
“Everyone already in the queue is not from Farm 37. Why should they come here to vote?” residents questioned, refusing to remove the flags until police intervened to de-escalate the situation. The flags were eventually removed.
Residents also criticised the ECN for setting up the mobile polling station so late in an area without electricity.
“This is something the ECN must address next year,” they urged.
Walvis Bay had 21 mobile teams and 32 fixed polling stations.