They turned up and cast their votes. Now one community has been told to do it all over again.

Voters in the Jabulani Community Hall voting district in Ward 3 of Siyancuma Local Municipality, Douglas, will have to cast their ballots again after the Electoral Commission ordered a revote because ballot papers were destroyed before counting.

The decision applies to that voting district in Ward 3 of Siyancuma Local Municipality in the Northern Cape. It is not an instruction for the whole municipality, or the country, to return to the polls.

IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya announced the decision on Sunday, 8 November 2026, during the declaration of the local government election results in Midrand.

What the IEC has confirmed

In his published address, Moepya said activists from a political party had stormed the voting station and destroyed ballot papers. He did not identify the party in that address.

He said the commission had approached the Electoral Court and opened a criminal case with the South African Police Service. The announcement did not set out a court ruling or establish criminal guilt.

The immediate electoral consequence is that votes cast at the affected station cannot be counted from the destroyed papers, requiring a fresh voting process there.

The date still needs an official announcement

Moepya’s 8 November announcement did not specify the revote date. Affected voters should look for the IEC’s confirmed date and voting arrangements before making plans to return.

Section 10 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, 2000 allows the commission to permit a revote at a station when ballot papers have been lost, destroyed or unlawfully removed before counting.

The same section requires the commission to publicise the date sufficiently and says the revote must follow the procedures that applied on the original voting day.

The commission’s decision concerns restoring the affected voters’ opportunity to have their ballots counted. It does not, on its own, establish which party will win the ward or how council seats will be affected. Those outcomes must come from the completed electoral process.

Sources: SAnews, 8 November 2026; IEC chairperson’s published address, 8 November 2026; Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, section 10.