Tuesday 3 November 2026 · Updated 13:49
Claim Check Accurate

Claim Check: KwaZulu-Natal’s two special-vote totals are both IEC figures, from different dates

One figure says 348,971 special votes were approved in KwaZulu-Natal; another says 362,878. Both come from the IEC. The difference is timing.

By Staff Reporter · Published

The Durban skyline silhouetted against an orange dawn sky, reflected in the water
File photo: Durban at dawn. Illustrative. Photo: Chris Bloom / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
The claim

KwaZulu-Natal has “211,449 approved for voting station visits and 151,429 approved for home visits”.

KZN IEC spokesperson Thabani Ngwira, quoted by the Berea Mail on Monday 2 November. That makes 362,878, more than the 348,971 in the IEC’s national figures.

Why it looks like a contradiction

The IEC’s national briefing on Wednesday 14 October gave KwaZulu-Natal 348,971 approved special votes. On Monday 2 November the KZN office gave 362,878.

Why it matters
  • What changed: the KZN IEC has given a higher special-vote figure than the national total published in October.
  • Who is affected: voters and parties following turnout in KwaZulu-Natal.
  • What you can do: treat the national figure as a mid-October snapshot, not the final count.
What the record shows
  • The national figure is a snapshot. Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo gave provincial totals on 14 October “based on figures captured thus far”, and said “the capturing process is being finalised, with completion targeted for 16 October 2026” (SAnews). The IEC’s 1 November readiness statement repeats the same breakdown.
  • The provincial figure is later. The KZN office gave 362,878 at its briefing on 2 November: 211,449 voting-station visits and 151,429 home visits. News24 also reports it, from provincial electoral officer Ntombfuthi Masinga’s briefing.
  • Same categories. Both figures count home visits plus station visits. It is not a split between two kinds of vote.
Verdict: Accurate

Both figures are genuine IEC figures. The IEC in KwaZulu-Natal said 362,878 special votes had been approved in the province: 211,449 voting-station visits and 151,429 home visits. That is more than the 348,971 in the IEC’s national figures, which were based on applications captured by mid-October. The IEC has not published a reconciled national total that we could find, so the national total of 2,655,067 should not be called final either.

Sources and evidence trail

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