Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

Standing in a snaking voting queue at Joubert Park - the biggest polling station in South Africa - Sifiso Buthelezi reminisces of how black people like him voted in 1994, heralding the end of the racist system of apartheid.

He was then an 18-year-old living near Nongoma - the seat of the Zulu king in Kwa-Zulu-Natal.

He tells me he now lives in a flat just two blocks from Joubert Park in Johannesburg, working as a security officer.

Mr Buthelezi feels that today's vote is as precious as the one 30 years back.

“We achieved our freedom and we still got it. That’s the important thing,” he tells me, adding that his main concern these days is the widespread corruption in government.

“If that stops, we can have the money to fix things like the potholes on roads, and the water problem because sometimes we don’t have water for a week."

Anne Soy
BBC News, Durban

At City Hall in Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal province, older voters are helped up the staircase to join a special queue for those over the age of 60.

One of them, 89-year-old Elayne Dykman, tells me she hopes that young people in South Africa do not take their vote for granted.

Savathri Naidoo, 84, says she hopes her vote will bring change for pensioners: “The pension is too low and rent high.”

This poll is crucial too for the younger generation who are beset by high unemployment rates.

Around 45% of young South Africans do not have jobs - Ayanda Hlekwane, born two years after the end of apartheid in 1994, is among this group. He’s never found employment despite holding three degrees.

Last year he completed his Masters in food nutrition and says he’s kept going back to college to avoid sitting at home unemployed.

“I’m working on my PhD proposal so that I go back to study in case I don’t get a job,” he says.

He wants his vote to make a difference: “I feel optimistic there will be change.”

Outside the polling stations, four political parties have set up branded tents to help voters confirm their electoral registration details before joining the queue.

Dressed in their party colours, they sit calmly - the atmosphere is respectful.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

Several voters at the Joubert Park polling station in Johannesburg have been complaining that they have been unable to vote because they came up on the voters' roll as dead.

But the election commission’s area manager, Charlotte Hlongwane, denies they have been disenfranchised.

She tells me that these people had “fake” ID books, and the commission’s system - which is linked to that of the Home Affairs department - picked this up.

She says voting is now going smoothly unlike early in the morning when there was a “network problem”, forcing election staff to do everything manually.

The scanners need to connect to the internet to verify the IDs, but if they cannot do so the physical voters' roll is on hand.

It's just after 16:00 in South Africa and polls have been open for nine hours so far. If you're just joining us, here's what you've missed:

• Polling stations have been busy in this pivotal general elections in which the ANC could lose its majority for the first time since 1994
• It was a slow start for many voters with some delays reported - the EFF leader Julius Malema queued for three hours to cast his ballot
• Other big political names - like opposition leader John Steenhuisen, President Cyril Ramaphosa as well as former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe - have all been pictured casting their vote
• Supporters of ex-President Jacob Zuma, who is campaigning against the ANC for the new MK party, ululated and chanted his clan names as he arrived to vote in his home village
• The electoral commission has blamed some of the delays with scanners - used to check a voter’s ID - on network problems as they need to connect to the internet
• However if they are down, electoral officials have been allowed to use manual records to do the verification
• Voters have 21:00 local time to get to their polling station.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

At the height of the racist system of apartheid, only white people could sit on the benches of Joubert Park in Johannesburg.

Today only black people are sitting here, relaxing after voting in the marquees that have been set up for the election.

It is a reminder of how South Africa has changed in the 30 years since the country’s last white ruler, FW de Klerk, handed power to Nelson Mandela.

“Those days of apartheid are over. They will never come back. Now we are all equal,” Simon Mohale tells me.

Today I did not see a single white voter at the polling station here.

Almost all of them moved out of the area when apartheid collapsed while black people - who previously could not live here - moved in.

Mohale says:

Tom Santorelli
BBC News, Gqeberha

There's a holiday atmosphere at this polling station at a school in Gqeberha, in South Africa's Eastern Cape province - with grilled meat cooking near those lining up to vote.

And it is indeed a public holiday - one organised in order to make it easier for workers to vote.

Joyce Nyarko, seen here casting her ballot, says she’s been voting since 1994, the year white-minority rule ended.

She adds that it’s her duty to vote and this is an election just like any other.

This couple were unfazed by the delays at the polling station and became engrossed in their books:

These voters at Gqeberha’s Municipal Town Hall had been waiting for about three hours to vote.

They are all from the so-called "born-free" generation - those born after the end of apartheid.

Fuzile Zizipho, second from right, is a student and said they were hungry and thirsty but passionate to vote for the first time.

She added they wanted to ensure they continue to get free education.

Image source, Reuters

Julius Malema, leader of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has cast his vote after queuing for around three hours at a polling station in his hometown.

Wearing a scarf in the colours of the Palestinian flag, a queuing Malema told reporters in Seshego in Limpopo province that "the ANC will suffer big time - just wait for the results".

Since being expelled from the governing African National Congress(ANC) 12 years ago, Malema built the EFF from scratch and has moulded it into the nation's third-largest party.

"This year’s election is a turning point. Our country will make serious inroads," Malema said on Wednesday.

"The voter will decide the direction of the country... Voters are saying we now here to vote for change and vote for jobs."

Big brands are getting involved it what's arguably one of South Africa's biggest national events in years.

From Uber to Krispy Kreme, several businesses are offering freebies for South Africans who vote.

Doughnut and coffee chain Krispy Kreme wrote on social media: "Reward yourself for making a difference! Show us your inked finger, and grab a free original glazed doughnut on us!"

As a security measure, voters in South Africa have their thumbs inked after casting their ballots.

Fast food chains such as Wimpy, Future Life, Spur, Motherland Coffee are asking voters to show their inked thumbs in exchange for free beverages, including coffee and hot chocolate.

Uber is offering a 35% discount on rides to and from polling stations.

Some bars and restaurants around the country are also giving out free food or drinks to voters who provide proof that they voted.

Beauty businesses like Sorbet Group and Uniq Brows are also giving out free treatments, such as manicures to brow tints.

Barbara Plett Usher
BBC News, Soweto

Image source, BBC News

As in numerous other polling stations across South Africa, voting was delayed at a Soweto school located a short walk from where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela used to live.

People have been patient but it’s clear the political landscape for Mandela’s party, the governing African National Congress (ANC), is changing.

“We are excited that more parties have come on board,” says 50-year-old Thabiso Motea. “We don’t want just one party ruling.”

Linda Malinda, 68, says casting her vote would make a change, and that she wants a lot of that.

“Most of our children they’ve gone into drugs because of frustration - they can’t get jobs, they can’t go to school, the money’s not there.

She says she is still planning to vote for the ANC, because “changing my vote will make things worse”.

But 18-year-old Ntokoto Ngobeni was waiting to “vote out some people” and cast his first-ever ballot for the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party.

Whatever the outcome of this election, it feels like it marks the end of an era.

Mohammed Allie
BBC News, Cape Town

Image source, BBC/Mohammed Allie

Mansoer and Wardia Safodien, both 73, cast their vote in Athlone in the coastal city of Cape Town earlier.

“I’ve voted in all the previous six elections," says Mansoer.

"It’s important for us to use our vote because people sacrificed so much for us to be able to vote, which we couldn’t do under apartheid.”

This is the seventh general election since the racist system of apartheid ended in 1994 when anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was elected president.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

Here at the Joubert Park polling station in downtown Johannesburg, voters wearing the colours of the governing African National Congress (ANC) are rivalling those dressed in merchandise from uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the breakaway party led by former President Jacob Zuma.

Surprisingly, there is no-one in the colours of the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), despite the fact that it came second to the ANC at this polling station in the 2019 election.

In his green, gold and black outfit - the colours of the ANC - voter Patrick Nwenyi tells me: “I’m ANC, right to my underwear.”

Image source, BBC News

Nurse Loveness Nyathi is also dressed in ANC colours, and is knitting while she stands in the queue.

“I’m proud of the ANC. Today we can vote and speak freely because of the ANC,” she says. She refers to the fact that the ANC led the struggle against the racist system of apartheid, which ended in 1994.

There are also a couple of people wearing MK T-shirts, which have the black power salute stamped on them.

One of the MK supporters, Sabelo Mungwe, says he will vote for the party because the price of food and electricity have gone up since Zuma was ousted in 2018 by current President Cyril Ramaphosa. "The economy is worse now under these criminals,” he says.

Over the years, support for the ANC has waned because of anger over high levels of corruption, crime and unemployment.

South Africa's former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka appealed to female voters after casting her vote in the north of Johannesburg.

"My message to women is that they should come out and vote. Democracy is important to them," Mlambo-Ngcuka told a reporter of state broadcaster SABC, external.

"They must make sure that their voices are heard and voting today is making sure that your voice is heard."

About 55% of the 28 million voters registered in this election are women.

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Nkandla

Image source, BBC News

Hundreds of Jacob Zuma supporters ululated and chanted his clan names (“Nxamala!”, “Msholozi!”) as the 82-year-old former president arrived to cast his vote in his home village of Nkandla.

Wearing a white T-shirt with the green and black colours of his party, uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), Zuma greeted officials and then sat down in Ntolwane Primary School.

After his ID was checked and left thumb inked, he was given three ballot papers. He carefully looked through them, smiled and said “all is in order, I can see my face on ballot papers”.

Just nine days away from election day, Zuma was barred from standing in the election by South Africa's highest court.

The Constitutional Court ruled that his 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court disqualified him from the race. However, his face still appears on ballot papers.

After disappearing into the polling booth, he placed all three of the ballot papers into a box and waved. He briefly interacted with his supporters before being whisked away by his bodyguards.

Zuma shocked South Africa last December by ditching the ANC and making a fresh bid for power under the banner of MK.

You may also be interested in:

• LISTEN: BBC News South Africa correspondent Nomsa Maseko explains what the polls mean for the nation

• Zuma lashes out at judges after election ban

Nobuhle Simelane
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has come out to downplay the reports of delays in voting. It said when polls were scheduled to start, 93% of voting stations had opened and the remainder opened within the hour.

According to Masego Shiburi, the deputy chief electoral officer, delays were caused by not having enough security officers to escort material.

Community protests in Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal had also delayed proceedings at 25 polling stations, but voting was now under way, he says.

These kind of protests usually have nothing to do with the election per se - communities tend to take advantage of polling day to highlight local issues.

Shiburi also acknowledges there were network issues affecting scanners used at polling stations. These need an internet connection and are used to check a voter’s ID.

In cases where connections were a problem, he says electoral officials had been told to manually check IDs against the voters’ roll - though this is likely to slow things down considerably.

Rafieka Williams
BBC News, Johannesburg

Some voters walked away earlier in frustration from Joubert Park in Johannesburg - the biggest polling station in the country.

"They didn't get my name on the scanners. Each and every time I vote here, but today my name is not there," complained Nomvula Ziswana, aged 53.

Johannesburg Ward councillor Ian Mzoxolo Nonkumbi admits there had been a problem with scanners and that this issue had frustrated both voters and electoral commission officials.

He says political parties at the voting station met briefly and were able to resolve the issue so that people could vote.

But Ziswana, who has been living in downtown Johannesburg for more than 28 years, says she would not be returning to vote.

"I'm sick and tired," she says.

Waihiga Mwaura
BBC Focus on Africa TV, Gqeberha

Image source, BBC/Waihiga Mwaura

As we've been reporting, there have been delays at numerous polling stations across South Africa this morning.

In Gqeberha - the sixth-largest city in the country - voting at Cape Recife High School has been held up as the seals on two ballet boxes have been broken.

These boxes carried ballot papers from those who cast "special votes" earlier in the week, as they would be unable to travel to their polling station today.

Electoral officials here say they regret the delay but they want things to be done by the book.

Party agents and poll observers are watching the recount in our presence.

One of the poll officials tells us he wants to get this right because “it is personal to me”.

There are 3.4 million registered voters across the Eastern Cape province, where Gqeberha is located.

It's almost 13:00 in South Africa and 12:00 here in London - if you're just joining us now, here's what you've missed:

• South Africans are voting in pivotal general elections in which the ANC could lose its majority for the first time since 1994
• It's been a slow start for many voters - numerous polling stations have been hit with delays
• Big political names - like opposition leader John Steenhuisen, current President Cyril Ramaphosa as well as former Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe - have been pictured casting their vote
• Two people have been arrested on suspicion of tampering with ballot boxes.

Mohammed Allie
BBC News, Cape Town

Image source, BBC/Mohammed Allie

First-time voter Mariam Bibi Ebrahim, who cast her ballot at the Cape Town College of Education campus in Athlone, described her first vote as “a surreal experience.”

“It feels empowering. I feel like I’m having a say in the way the country will be run," she said.

Early indications are that there will be a big voter turnout in the Western Cape province.

Many voters braved the early morning autumn chill and darkness to cast their ballots at the first opportunity to allow time for them to enjoy the rest of the public holiday - which has turned out to be a lovely cloudless, warm day in Cape Town.

There have been a few reports of glitches at some polling stations where voters rolls arrived late and voters reporting to the wrong venue.

The voting however seems to be going smoothly in what is expected to be a closely contested province.

Image source, Getty Images

There is a visible police presence in Langa township, not only outside the polling stations but also along the area’s busy roads where many locals are out and about while enjoying the day off.

By mid-morning there was still a long queue at the Isilimela High School but there were no complaints as voters were happy with the process.

Outside the venue, officials from the opposing parties, kitted out in their party colours, were in a jovial mood, in stark contrast to the bitter campaigning in the leadup to the election.

Image source, South African Government/X

Another former president has turned up to vote.

South Africa's third leader Kgalema Motlanthe voted with his wife, Gugu Motlanthe, at the Killarney Country Club in Johannesburg.

He told reporters he voted for ANC and "each and every vote counts" for the party.

Motlanthe was president for six months in 2009.

Thabo Mbeki, the nation's second president, also voted at Killarney Country Club this morning.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News, Johannesburg

It's been a slow start for many voters - as we've reported throughout the morning, numerous polling stations across the country have been hit with delays.

Here at Joubert Park - the biggest polling station in South Africa - many people have been unable to vote because of a change in the rules.

They include supporters of former President Jacob Zuma’s new party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK).

“The scanner says we’re dead,” MK supporter Sabelo Mungwe tells me.

In this election voters can only cast their ballots where they are registered - unless they got permission in advance to vote elsewhere.

Mr Munge is registered in Mr Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal.

He says he voted in previous elections in Joubert Park, which is in Johannesburg and falls under Gauteng province.

He was allowed to vote for the national parliament - but this time he has been told he can’t.

“This is sabotage. We don’t trust the IEC [Independent Electoral Commission),” he says.

An election official here denies this allegation, but confirmed that a number of people have been unable to vote.

The official says he himself was unaware of the new rules - and won’t be able to vote as he is registered in another province.

Mr Munge has not given up. He is waiting in the hope that election officials will change their position and allow him to vote.

It won’t be surprising if MK turns this into a major issue, as this is a tightly contested election.