#IMadeMyMark: Voting for freedom

To the youth, 1994 is the year known for freedom but to those who lived during the apartheid era, 1994 marks the day they experienced freedom.

Brentwood Park resident Punimal Soundi Ramrattan was 57 years old when she had a taste of freedom by voting for a political party that she felt would benefit all nations.

“I voted for freedom and equality because I was tired of being segregated based on the colour of my skin,” Punimal said.

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The 81-year-old said during her first vote, the election lines were long but she was part of a women’s forum in Palm Ridge which granted the opportunity for her to be a special voter.

“While we waited to vote, the police were hungry so my daughter went home to cook mutton curry and rice for them to eat,” she explained.

This was the Ramrattan’s way of showing there is no gripes between them and the white nation.

Punimal is casting her vote again this year and this time she is voting to keep freedom.

“My favourite memory since I first voted was when I was able to sit in the same coach as other nations,” she said.

“That is something that should never change.”

Punimal grew up in Kalamazoo (known as Reiger Park today). She got married at the age of 21 to the late Harilal Udit Ramrattan and together they had five children.

“My father died when I was eight years old and my mother was a midwife, but she used to sell koeksisters to make ends meet,” she explained.

I only attended school at William Hills High School until Grade Eight and then I left to work so I could help my mother financially.”

The Brentwood Park resident said she dreamed of becoming a midwife like her mother but due to a lack of funds and the circumstances, she became a seamstress in a factory.

“My husband wanted to become a cabinet maker, but he was not allowed to so he became a waiter,” she explained.

As a result, they moved to Actonvillle because of his job and as time passed, they moved to Germiston and Palm Ridge where she worked as a seamstress until she retired at the age of 60.

The grandmother of 10 and great-grandmother of six children moved to Brentwood Park in 2018 to live with her daughter and she was concerned about voting.

“I voted every five years and I was so happy when I read in the Benoni City Times that there will be a special voting station in Brentwood Park so I can vote,” she cheerfully explained.

The pensioner said despite being retired, she relies on her pension as it is her independence and she can continue doing the work of God because Jesus is the reason that she is still alive.

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