We wish to express our sincere gratitude to all the residents residing in Ward 125 who exercised their constitutional right and voted on May 7.
A record voters turnout at all the voting stations made it reminiscent of the euphoria of the 1994 elections, which is an indication that people are concerned about who governs our land and for how long.
Although some of the stations experienced minor hiccups like zip zap machines running out of ink, ballot paper shortages, ballot boxes shortages, and electricity outages it seems to have run smoothly.
Some IEC officials at the stations seemed to be intolerant to party agents and at times appeared agitated, this can be attributed to the fact that they worked very long hours and did not expect the large turnout of voters. An observation that we made, is that the officials working at the stations during the day should not be attending to the counting after the stations are closed, and that the IEC should appoint new officials to attend to this task; officials are exhausted and cannot work 24 hours non-stop as the counting process is laborious and time-consuming.
Although the ruling party has won the elections the Democratic Alliance has shown a tremendous growth at all the voting stations in Ward 125, increasing its support at traditional voting districts but more so at non-traditional voting districts. At the voting districts of Ward 125 situated in Diepkloof Phase 2 and 3, regarded as non-traditional for the party where over 7 637 people are registered to vote and only 5 571 people voted, the DA could in 2011 only attract 310 votes overall at the VD stations, but during this 2014 election managed nearly 2 000 votes, a growth of over 597 per cent for the party and 35,9 per cent of the voters tally. This is extremely encouraging.
PR Clr Peter Stewart
DA WARD 125
Cell: 083 266 3838 Fax: 086 627 2139
email: psward125@yahoo.com
