Chicken feet tempt hungry voters

CAPE TOWN, 2014/05/07, Elections 2014 South Africa - ANC supporters walk past a street seller, selling chicken feet at the polling station in Nyanga, Cape Town, Western Cape. South Africans queue to vote for the general elections; on May 7; 2014. Picture: Adrian de Kock

CAPE TOWN, 2014/05/07, Elections 2014 South Africa - ANC supporters walk past a street seller, selling chicken feet at the polling station in Nyanga, Cape Town, Western Cape. South Africans queue to vote for the general elections; on May 7; 2014. Picture: Adrian de Kock

Published May 7, 2014

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Cape Town - A braai stand with sizzling chicken feet was a hit with voters patiently waiting across the road in an informal settlement in Hout Bay, Cape Town, on Wednesday afternoon.

Imizamo Yethu resident Beverly Tshatsha, 49, prodded the meat and handed it over to customers in torn newspaper, which happened to show a smiling President Jacob Zuma and other politicians.

“Business has been very, very good today. I've been here since 5am,” she shouted over the gospel music playing in the yard of her RDP house next door.

The braai smoke wafted over a scattering of satellite DSTV dishes attached to shacks.

Groups of people dressed in African National Congress shirts danced nearby and children ran dangerously in front of minibus taxis.

The queue snaked around the Hout Bay Christian Community Association in RN Mandela Road.

A mosaic of the smiling former president Nelson Mandela greeted voters passing a column at the entrance.

Tshatsha said she was the first in the line to vote.

Asked what she was expecting from the political party she had voted for, she replied that she unfortunately could not say.

“I'm experiencing nothing. I'm just giving them my 'x'. They promise everything but they've done nothing for us,” she said.

She said her living conditions had remained the same since 1994. She supported and lived in one house with her four children and five grandchildren.

Bulelwa Rongwana, 49, standing nearby with her five-year-old daughter, said she had not been sure which party to vote for.

“One has to think quite carefully. Each and every one is promising a different thing. Some are similar, some are not. It's my vote at the end of the day,” she said.

The Woolworths employee said her daughter had been very excited to take part and wanted to see the ink mark on her mother's thumb.

“In the booth, she said 'Mama, which one are you going to vote for?' and I just showed her the picture. She said that was okay and put the national paper in the ballot box.”

Sapa

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