Elections: What voters had to say

People’s Assembly decided the best way to spend Elections Day was to speak to the people themselves and find out what their experiences at the polls were and what it meant for them to vote. We visited a number of voting stations in the greater Cape Town area.

At the Landsdowne Road Station in Site C Khayelitsha where a church had been converted into a station, 33 year-old Bongani Nguentsu told People’s Assembly the experience was “cool because there is no violence today. Everything went quickly inside and everyone is smiling”.

Weziwe Cutshwa (35) said: "It went well, it was smooth. I have voted in the past but it is different this year because now there is a person who stood outside to take my ID to the machines, last time, they didn't do that last time. There is more security now. I feel so happy. I was excited to come to the vote."

Asked what it meant for her to vote today, Ianda (36) replied: “I want to stand up for the freedom that baba Mandela gave us".

At Khayelitsha’s Matthew Goniwe School voting centre - with a number of voting sub-sections to cater for high voter registration in the area - IEC volunteer Tiny Nyeke, told People’s Assembly: “my role here is to check people and put them in a row because I am a door controller. We are coming here at 5am so that we can start early and be ready for the people coming before work. We were very busy this morning."

When asked why she chose to get involved with elections for the first time this year, Nyke responded, “to help the people and because I’m not working at the moment”.

At Belhar High School station, Senup Nassep (62), described the experience as "smooth, very smooth, just in and out. The first time I voted in 1994, there was a long queue”.

For Nikki Hewu, 26, the experience at Belhar was not a positive one. When asked why her yellow ANC t-shirt was turned inside out, she replied, “I’m not very pleased about this . I wasn’t trying to be unruly. This is the only voting station I'm not allowed to wear my t-shirt and the IEC officials are not giving me a straightforward idea about why I cant wear it. I was forced by police to take it off. Some ladies came early and they tuned around [and didn’t vote] because they didn’t have jackets to cover their [ANC] t-shirts”.

Hewu’s friend, first time voter Zintle Mani (18) added that this was “not what I expected. It wasn’t a good experience. It's really not okay”.

109 year-old Joanna Bailey from Manenberg, Cape Town, exercises her democratic right to vote.

Earlier in Manenberg, accompanied by her neighbour, Joanna Bailey, 109 years old, also cast her vote. People’s Assembly was pleased to see elderly members of the community exercise their democratic right to vote.

Isiqalo informal settlement is one of the IEC Western Cape’s hotspots due to the community’s recent dispute with the nearby Mitchell's Plain residents who have called for the eviction of the settlement's residents.

Anele Manile (34), told People’s Assembly he originally wasn’t going to vote but changed his mind. “I asked myself, would my x make a difference? All the politicians talk about how they are going to build a house for us… they tell us this when they need our vote. But I told my community it is better to vote otherwise no one is going to help us… I hope we get the things we need in the community. There is no electricity, there is no streets and when it rains people sleep in the rain; there is water inside of the houses. [Government] gave us porta-porta [toilets]. They make the children sick and a lot of people get diseases.”

Changing socio-economic terrain, from shacks to the suburbs, People’s Assembly’s next stop was Pinelands. Recently getting her South African citizenship, Erin Rae (33) originally from Texas in the US, told People’s Assembly, “it’s my first time voting in the country. I’m really excited about it. Freedom was fought for and we mustn’t take that for granted. It’s our country and we do get a choice in who we want to run it”.

Echoing her sentiment, ANC’s Johnny de Lange said,“If you’re a citizen of the country it’s important that you participate in the democratic process. I also had a specific party I wanted to vote for,” he quipped, with a smile.