Durban - Elderly women in Nquthu heard the call by the Electoral Commision of South Africa to turn up in their numbers in Wednesday’s municipal by-elections.
At several voting stations visited on Wednesday morning, the highest number of those coming to vote were by far elderly and female. They braved the chilly morning air, covering themselves in blankets and scarfs, to be the first in the queue when the voting stations opened this morning.
KwaZulu-Natal commissioner for the Electoral Commission of SA, Mawethu Mosery, had called on Nquthu residents on Tuesday to get out and vote to avoid another stalemate in the municipality.
“I was here at 6am because I was led to believe that the station would be opening then,” said Doris Sibiya, after voting at about 7.45am at Spring Lake High School voting station just outside the Nquthu City centre.
The school could be one the busiest stations as 1500 are expected to vote. By 7.45 am, more than 100 people registered there had voted. About 50 of them registered for special votes voted on Wednesday and more than 50 had already voted at the station, with more still waiting outside.
Sibiya said although they were happy to vote, they had not been given a proper explanation as to why the vote had to be done again. “All we had was that there were disagreements inside the council.”
She said the new council must prioritise the water crisis. “We also want government houses and we want proper toilets built in the area. We are still using pit toilets.”
Sizwe Ngcobo, the presiding officer at Spring Lake station, said he arrived at around 5am and found people already waiting outside.
“One of the things that complicate voting today is that it is not a holiday, so the young are at work, they will probably start arriving at the station from around 4pm.”
At the Nquthu Lutheran Primary School the demographics of the voting population were also female and elderly. Voters spoke about their unhappiness at the water crisis.
Mosery said the opening of voting stations had gone smoothly.
He said they were able to administer 1400 of the 1500 special votes on Tuesday.
“The hundred people we did not find were not at home and others said there has been too much excitement with the elections and they wanted to go to the stations to experience that.”