March 2, 2006
By Ndaba Dlamini
IT IS 8.05am, about an hour since the polling station at the Yeoville Youth Centre opened. Outside the centre, heavily armed police keep an eye on the proceedings as people trickle in to cast their votes for the municipal elections on Wednesday, 1 March.
Two Independent Electoral Commission officers at the door systematically check would-be voters' identity documents. Once inside the polling station, the voter's status is verified at one desk, identity document stamped at another, thumb inked and ballot papers issued. All this takes less than five minutes.
"I thought I would spend the whole day here trying to cast my vote but I am pleasantly surprised that I managed to cast my vote in less that 10 minutes," said one voter, who identified himself only as Muzi from Bellevue East.
Activity along Raleigh Street and in the park in front of the voting station is normal. Across the street members of the Johannesburg metro police and the South African Police Service have set up a roadblock, occasionally stopping and searching cars. A few children, enjoying a day off school, play ball on one side of the park, oblivious to the activity taking place inside the centre.
"More than 200 people have voted since we opened the polling station at 7am today and we expect more people to come to cast their votes as the day progresses," says the presiding officer at the station.
At 9.45am, at the Thusong Youth Centre in Alexandra, a long queue snakes from the polling station to the gates, in sharp contrast to Yeoville. People old and young wait patiently in the queue. A few elderly women sit, tired from their long wait.
"I should have come here before the polling station opened. Unfortunately I woke up late and I have to pay the price of standing in the queue for an hour. But I don't regret being here and I won't go anywhere until I cast my vote," said Zanele Ngcobo, sitting comfortably on a ledge.
Zoliswa Binza, the presiding officer at the station, says: "The only glitch we are encountering is that we have only one scanner and that is causing some delay. But the problem is going to be solved soon because we have been informed another one is being delivered as we speak."
A stone's throw from the youth centre, a temporary voting station has been set up on an open piece of ground. A few metres from the tent, a woman wearing the colours of a popular political party sits beside a desk laden with tea-cups and jugs.
"My view is that people should vote refreshed. This is not a campaign strategy because even if you are from a different party I can still pour you a cup of tea or coffee," she says with a big smile.
Pan African Square is a hive of activity as people go about their business. A hawker, pushing a trolley laden with fruit and vegetables, says he will go and vote after closing his business for the day. "I have to sell this stock today, then I will go and vote. My stomach comes before anything else," he says with a smile.
In Hyde Park, on an empty stretch of road, a young woman sits near a gate to a construction site. There is a small table with a few packets of cigarettes and sweets beside her. Asked whether she has had a chance to vote, she says she has no identity document.
Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo joins the queue at a polling station in Observatory on Wednesday 1 March to cast his vote in the 2006 local government elections
(Photo: Enoch Lehung, City of Johannesburg)
"But even if I had an identity document, I wouldn't know who to vote for," she says.
At Hyde Park High School an old woman, barely able to walk, is helped from a car. In a humanitarian gesture, polling officers allow her to jump the small queue to cast her vote.
"About 194 voters had cast their votes by 9.35am," says the presiding officer. "It's difficult to say how many people will have cast their votes by the end of the day, but everything is going smoothly. We had a slight problem with people who do not appear on the voters' roll, but that has been rectified."
Mark Louis, a Hyde Park resident, says he is satisfied with the voting process at the station. "The polling officers are expeditious and I had no problem casting my vote. I hope the candidate I voted for will satisfy me in the same manner by serving us well."
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