DA Member of Parliament, Thamsanqa Mabhena went to cast his vote in his hometown of Pimville on Wednesday.
He joined residents in the queue to exercise their rights and use voting as their voices.
The voting station at Tshebedisano Primary School in Pimville Zone 2 was open from 7:00am with no reported incidents.
“I think today is a watershed moment for South Africa and I am voting at Tshebedisano Primary School in Pimville Zone 2. I voted for the DA to Rescue South Africa.
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“I think today is a very important day for all South Africans to make sure we come out numbers. I mean if you look here a lot of active citizens, a lot of people are in the queue.
@sowetourbannews “This is an important day for South Africa,” says @Democratic Alliance member, Thamsanqa Mabhena as voting continues in Soweto. #caxtonlocalmedia #saelections2024 #soweto
“We are just hoping that the IEC can speed up the process, make sure that all the VMD machines are working, making sure that we don’t stand in the queue for too long. But I think people have been very patient so far,” said Mabhena.
Waiting in line from the early hours to vote did not sit well with some voters.
“I’ve been here since 7:30 with most of the people here and everyone is getting impatient and tired of waiting in a line that is not moving.
“So if only things can be managed a bit quicker I’ll be much happier with the voting process,” said Ryan Mataboge, a resident of Pimville Zone 2.
First time voters did not mind the long queues and were eager to cast their votes for the first time.
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They stated the changes they would like to see in the next five years.
Thokozile Radebe also from Pimville said, “I would like to see more young people in the JSE, we are not doing so well when it comes to the economy as black people.
“So I would like to see more black owned companies there, I don’t know why it’s taking so long.
“It’s my first time voting and I am so happy to see a lot of people my age coming here to vote and that means something is really bugging them and they want things to change.”
