There were mixed views from residents at voting stations situated at Randpoort Old Age Home and Hoërskool Riebeeckrand High School about who will be victorious in this year’s national elections.
One of the voters at Randpoort, Maryna Venter, said that she was very happy to have made her mark. She thinks it is important to vote if you want to see a change in the country. One of the challenges she faced on voting day, however, was reading the ballot paper.
Another Randpoort voter, Aletta Mukosi stated that she was very happy to vote because she wants to see change.
“We all talk about change but if we do not get up and vote for change, it will never happen,” Mukosi said.
She added that the queue was moving smoothly at the time she was voting.
“I expected a long queue and even brought my own camping chair,” she added.
At Hoërskool Riebeeckrand High School, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) presiding officer Neo Mokobane stated that the election process started on time.
She further emphasised the rows moved rather smoothly and she estimated that they assisted about 100 residents every hour. One of the IEC’s challenges of the day included struggles with the system as it was offline for the first two hours.
DA chairperson of Ward 7, Patrick Otto said, “We did our utmost best. I wanted to ensure that everything goes smoothly and that elderly voters especially got preference.”
Another voter, Gogozana Monnasekgele, said that she was excited to make her mark since she wants to see change. According to her, she wants her children to have a job after finishing their studies and wants the government to tackle unemployment and take education more seriously. Even though she wants to vote for change, she still believes that the current ruling party will win the election.
“We have voted because we want to make a difference. We did not experience any challenges with the voting process and we truly hope the opposition will win,” expressed Almerie and Johan Grobler.
Given Mosehla added that maybe there will be change. He hopes that by voting he could experience more job creation and better service delivery. He also believes that the current ruling party will prevail again.
“Some of us new voters want to experience the fruit of freedom. We have been under the ANC for 30 years. I am here today to make a change. We [the residents] are the people who are suffering. Instead of creating one million jobs, the ruling party is digging one million graves. I feel frustrated. One of the challenges was having to vote where you registered. I am hoping that the Red Berets will win,” Lwazi Cele concluded.
