Angry Joburg resident reveals why he has not voted since 2009

A Joburg voter believes in God, but not politicians. Picture: Botho Molosankwe/The Star

A Joburg voter believes in God, but not politicians. Picture: Botho Molosankwe/The Star

Published May 8, 2019

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Johannesburg - When one approaches Mzimhlophe Hostel, a pungent smell emanating from three toilets assaults the nostrils.

Behind the toilets are a few shacks as well as rubble from a burnt out shack that went up in flames on Easter Sunday. 

Towards the community hall where voting is taking place is the tiny shack that 37-year-old *Mashudu lives in.

Inside, Mashudu sits on a bed slowly puffing on a dagga joint. The smell fills his tiny shack.

The bed, which takes much of the space in the shack, is unmade. Inside the shack, there not much except a bed, a bedside table and a little cupboard for cutlery and pots. There is also not much space for anything else. 

On the bedside table, there is a box of sorghum beer and a bible. Mashudu sips on the sorghum beer as he puffs on his joint.

While voting takes place just a few metres away from his home and people are braving the cold to cast votes, Mashudu could not be bothered.

He last voted in 2009 "for Zuma" and has not voted since. He said life has not changed for him in any way, leaving him despondent and angry.

He is jobless and survives on piece jobs that come and go. He lives in smelly cramped conditions and leaving Malamulele for Johannesburg in 2002 has not changed his life, he said.

While speaking, Mashudu looks lost in his own world. He then gets emotional and on the verge of tears as he states his reason for not voting.

"I did not register to vote because I don't have a favourite party now.

"Even when I vote, I don't know what I'm voting for. Just go outside and see the shops here, it's only foreigners working there. 

"Employers don't want to employ us, they undermine us. All of them employ foreigners. Don't say South Africans are lazy when you don't want to employ us," he says, traces of anger in his voice.

"I have no electricity and have to use paraffin which is expensive."

As someone who has always voted the ANC, Mashudu does not think voting for a different party will change anything.

"The only difference I'll be making in their lives is for them to go and stay in Dubai.

The shack that Mashudu stays in is not his. He is renting it and has to pay for it with money he gets from piece jobs. Right now, he doesn't have a piece job and hopes something will come up soon.

Finishing his joint and stubbing it out, he reaches for the bible on the side table. He has always been a Christian but his faith in God intensified over the years as his quality of life deteriorated.

"I read the Bible everyday. I believe in it and not in any politician," he says, his voice heavy with emotion.

*Not his real name. 

The Star

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