Voting at Parkhurst Primary School was not an in-and-out exercise on 7 May as the queues of voters carried through from the halls to the streets and all the way around the corner.
Standing in line Mtimande Mbatha said the atmosphere was intense and felt that the 2014 elections could be the new chapter to the powerful story of South Africa’s historic struggle.
According to IEC officials at the voting station, people started lining up outside the school at 6.30am.
‘Born-frees’ were underrepresented at the voting poll as most of the people waiting in the long lines had voted once before.
Twenty-year-old Lungelo Nkosi said he felt that the absence of young people was disappointing and that he was going to vote because he felt he owed it to all the men and women who fought for him to have this right.
“Everyone should take part so they can make a difference and bring about change,” he said.
Ward 117 councillor Tim Truluck said there had been some problems on the day as the voting station in Saxonwold had run out of ballot papers in the morning which delayed the process a bit.
“Other problems incurred when some ANC members were seen to have been campaigning at the Rosebank voting station which they were not allowed to do,” said Truluck.
“However, I hear that this was not as bad as in other areas; there have been quite a few negative reports about the ANC today.”
Ward 90 councillor Gordon Mackay said there were some issues the occurred at the Craighall Park voting station.
“IEC personnel were confused by the process and there was a two-hour delay before voting started in the morning,” said Mackay.
“Voters were waiting outside but pace picked up at around 10am and now seems to be running smoothly.”
Nonetheless voters seemed very excited to cast their vote and showed off their ink prints as they left the voting stations.
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