No vote for rural residents
Many residents of Dukuduku and Khula Village, will not be voting on Wednesday as their allocated polling stations are simply too far to get to.
OWING to the distance and time spent travelling to outlying polling stations, many Dukuduku and Khula Village residents will not be voting in Wednesday’s general elections.
Dukuduku and Khula Village are settlements alongside the R618, between Mtubatuba and St Lucia. For voting purposes, the two areas are classified as ‘Mtubatuba Rural’ and have thus been allocated polling stations more than 20km away. Chwebeni Primary School on Mfekayi Road in the Nkundusi Reserve is where Dukuduku residents must vote, while Khula Village residents are forced to travel 30km to Nyalazi to cast their votes. It is for this reason that many residents of the two areas were not even able to register earlier in the year.
While voting day on Wednesday has been declared a public holiday, many Dukuduku and Khula Village residents are employed in the hospitality and restaurant industries in St Lucia. These industries do not close on public holidays, making it impossible for voters to travel such distances. A tremendous strain will be put on available public transport but, more importantly, numerous citizens are unable to vote simply because their allocated polling stations are too far away.
