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WHILE across much of South Africa long queues of voters snaked into voting stations on Wednesday, the situation was different in Bloemhof’s troubled Boitumelong township in North West.

Residents went about their normal chores amid an elections boycott that followed the recent outbreak of violent protests over alleged municipal corruption.

Violence in Bloemhof, which falls under embattled Lekwa Teemane municipality, broke out about a month before Wednesday’s elections. Residents torched the homes of the African National Congress (ANC) mayor and party councillors, and blocked the N12 corridor connecting Johannesburg and Cape Town.

A low voter turnout in the elections is expected to dent the overall performance of the ANC, particularly as Bloemhof itself was an ANC stronghold. The ANC vote in Lekwa Teemane, consisting of the towns of Christiana and Bloemhof, was more than 70% in both the 2009 general elections and the 2011 municipal elections.

In the run up to this week’s elections, Bloemhof was declared a hotspot, which resulted in heavy police and military presence in the area on Wednesday. But the intervention seemed to have achieved the opposite of the intended goal, which was to make those who wanted to vote feel protected. Instead, it seemed to have created worries that violence could erupt.

Municipal corruption has been cited as the reason for the protest. The protestors wanted Lekwa Teemane municipality to be dissolved and mayor Moeder Makodi to resign.

The ANC has stuck to its guns, saying elected officials could not be removed on a whim. But residents interviewed on Wednesday were adamant that the ruling party "will not force the mayor down our throats".

On Monday the more than 250 people who had been arrested during the unrest were released on bail after some had spent close to a month in jail. The move seemed to be part of attempts by the authorities to broker a truce ahead of election day.

On Wednesday a female cashier at a local Bloemhof Spar said she was undecided on whether to vote or not. She was worried that those who voted would be attacked when the police and military left the area.

Another local said he loved the ANC, but had voted for Julius Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters because "the ANC does not listen".

An ANC supporter in Bloemhof said he had voted because he wanted the next mayor to come from the area and not nearby Christiana.