Cape Town - Minutes before the voting station at the Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in Saxonsea, Atlantis, opened a 59-year-old voter had a severe asthma attack.
The squeaky voice of 59-year-old Shirley Fritz gasping for air and her frantic calls sent panic throughout the centre as well among those standing in the queue.
She shouted: "I can’t take it anymore, please help me and let me vote immediately so that I can go to the hospital."
Panic-stricken voters watched in disbelief and shouted "please help the lady" and "let her vote first". But before Fritz could cast her vote she collapsed in a chair. IEC staff members and voters rushed to her aid and gave her water to calm her down.
After recovering and casting her vote Fritz said: “I was supposed to be admitted to the trauma unit at Blaauwberg Medical Centre this morning. But I phoned the trauma unit and told them that I first want to vote and then be admitted.
“I’m struggling with asthma for the past three years and today was one of the most severe attacks I’ve experienced. I’m just glad that before I was admitted to hospital I could vote for the party I believe would be making a difference in this country and the province.”
Fritz was immediately taken to the hospital by a family member, but before she was whisked away said that she would spend the entire day at the unit and hopefully be released tomorrow.