Voters play games to kill time

07/05/2014. Residents of Mooiplaas Informal settlement, outside Pretoria, stand in queues to cast their vote. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

07/05/2014. Residents of Mooiplaas Informal settlement, outside Pretoria, stand in queues to cast their vote. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

Published May 7, 2014

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 Pretoria - Last-minute voters waited anxiously in line at Clapham Primary School in Pretoria on Wednesday evening as the deadline for votes crept ever closer.

With an-hour-and-a-half to go before the 9pm cut-off, a large group of people were still waiting their turn to cast their votes.

However, they remained calm and enthusiastic to make their mark.

Lights inside the polling station had been switched on since 5.45pm and with darkness having set in around the voters, lights from cellphone screens could be seen from start to finish as the queue made its way toward the building where the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) officials were doing their best to accommodate as many people as possible.

The popular choice among the waiting voters were either Candy Crush, or Angry Birds, popular cellphone games which were furiously being played in order to kill time in the long queues.

“I play Candy Crush on my phone all the time, but now my battery is totally flat and I'm bored,” a distraught Luthando Mphahlehle said, still some way from the front of the queue.

“I played and played but my phone went off about five minutes ago, so now I wait. I should have charged the thing but I was in a rush to get here to vote.” - Sapa

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