Pretoria - Mabopane residents who went out to vote yesterday said they were ready to welcome change to the City of Tshwane.
Young and old steadily said they understood their responsibility to vote, especially considering that it was a right that many had died to see realised.
Resident Donald Moyo said there was no way he could not participate in the elections, and he did not need to be told to be an active citizen.
Moyo said he wished more people understood what was happening in the country, and how politics actually worked so that they could make informed decisions.
“If you don’t vote you only disadvantage yourself and your party. We must vote and take part so that the competition can be fair and square.
“I will keep on coming because we fought for the right to vote … I have to come, there is no other way. It must come from within yourself to do this.”
Phindi Sepeng said she had come to vote as she wanted to see a significant change in her community, as she was not happy with a number of things.
Sepeng said that for her, the main thing would be to see changes with issues such as title deeds, water, and the large number of youths who were unemployed.
“The party that has been handling our municipality didn’t do anything for us, hence we had to come. We live here and we want to see the change, so we have to vote.
“Next time it will be our children who will be running for president, how can I expect people to hopefully vote for him or her when I don’t even do anything now.”
Caroline Mothoko said she also came to vote for change, as they had given one party too many chances and it was finally time to give others a chance.
“We gave them time, this time we are going to give another party a chance with the hope that maybe they can give us something better.”
Meanwhile, party representatives stationed outside voting stations said they were happy with the turnout so far, and that everything had gone off without a glitch.
ActionSA ward candidate Romeo Hlongwane said everything had kicked off promptly at 6am without a hitch at a voting station opened at Ngaka Maseko High School.
Although there were fewer people coming through to voting stations compared with the previous years’ elections, he said, they had noticed it was more older people than youths.
“Everything has changed, and you can tell that fewer people are coming through. It’s more like 10% of youth and 90% of older persons are making their mark because they say they want change.”
Pretoria News