Picture: Kevin Sutherland/EPA Picture: Kevin Sutherland/EPA
Cape Town - Politicians were out in full force yesterday in a final push to encourage citizens to register to vote in the upcoming elections.
The Independent Electoral Commission of SA said today was the last day for eligible voters to register to vote and to update their addresses if they had moved. Party leaders travelled to townships in and around Cape Town, not only to urge residents to register, but to garner support.
Initially small groups of people arrived at some voting stations, but later in the day larger numbers arrived.
The supervisor at a voting station in Mitchells Plain, Pierre Jaftah, said few people arrived there in the first hour of the station opening, but the number grew later. However, he expected a drop-off in arrivals later in the afternoon when businesses at a business hub close to the station closed.
During a visit to Mitchells Plain, DA leader Mmusi Maimane and other DA members accompanied a first-time voter from her home in Eastridge to the nearest voting station so she could register.
Maimane highlighted the importance of getting young people to vote.
“Young people are the centre of our economy. I think that if we can build a South Africa for all where young people are able to get work and they are ensured they can start small businesses and become entrepreneurs, and we can focus on a future where all South Africans are included, this will be the realisation of our dream. And this is why we believe these elections are crucial,” he said.
“I am so proud of the (DA) leadership that is here, and Alan Winde, who will stand as premier to make sure the Western Cape remains blue and continues to grow here and in other provinces.”
While Maimane and the other DA leaders were walking in the area, some hawkers and shoppers expressed their displeasure at promises being made to residents “in the voting season”.
“Nothing ever changes after we vote; all these parties are all alike, and that is why I am not voting this year,” said Patricia Levendal, 45.
State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, who was in Khayelitsha as part of the ANC leadership team deployed to the province, said: “What we are doing differently now is making sure we put in place a proper leadership of the province that will be able to inspire the community, will be beyond reproach and able to interact with the people of the Western Cape.”
Letsatsi-Duba said the party had not yet selected a candidate to stand for premier, as the party’s list processes were “still being refined”.