Young and old cast their vote in the Helderberg

In the Helderberg Basin young and old came out to cast their vote in the 2024 National and Provincial election on Wednesday May 29. With voting stations open from 7am to 9pm, residents had ample time to make their vote count.

At the Dr GJ Joubert Primary School voting station in Strand, queues were dwindling by the afternoon with voters able to stand in line and be assisted within minutes due to the decrease in voters lining up, while at the voting station at Gordon’s Bay Primary School queues were still moderately busy with the line snaking upwards toward the mountain along Avondrus Street.

Bolander caught up with a very excited first-time voter, 18-year-old Ben du Toit, a resident from Gordon’s Bay, right after he voted at the polling station set-up at Gordon’s Bay Primary School. As to why he, as a young person and first-time voter deemed it important to cast his vote in the 2024 elections he said: “I think it’s important for everyone to vote so that everyone can have a say in matters of the country and have a say in what should change, and what should remain the same.”

In answer to what changes he hopes his vote will facilitate he said: “Crime, corruption, electricity and service delivery must change.”

Then, from first-time voter to experienced elderly voter 92-year-old, Elaine Capendale, also from Gordon’s Bay, who with the assistance of her wheel walker, and her daughter Bess Morgan, at her side came out to make her mark in this year’s general election.

“You must vote because lots of people long ago died to get the vote and for women to vote, so I must vote until I’m dead,” she said.

Her wish is for her vote to facilitate and contribute to unity in the country. “That the people come together,” she answered as to what she wants to see change in South Africa.

In Strand, at the Strand Town Hall, queues were just as busy in the afternoon still with the line trailing around the building to the adjacent street.

Voter Shelly Frolick, from Strand, cast her vote, she says in hopes of an improved employment landscape. “I think the change I want to see is more employment for our people and better service delivery in all areas not just in the more affluent areas.”

At the voting station based at Gordon High School in Somerset West, by mid afternoon there were no queues with voters able to enter and vote without needing to wait in line.

However, even though the numbers at queues at many of the voting stations started trickling down, there was an extremely long queue still very visible at the voting station at the Harmony Park Resort.

A voter who left in the morning due to the long queue, returned in the afternoon, but told Bolander she is unsure about lining up as the queues are still just as long as in the morning after 10am when she had initially been there.

Relieved voter André Petersen, residing in Gordon’s Bay said he could vote here after queueing for about three and a half hours. He came to line up at noon and exited at 3.40pm. “The wait wasn’t that long,” he said about waiting almost four hours to vote.

Joline-Anne Plaatjies, from Strand, who worked at a political party stand at the station, suspected the reasons for the long queue was that a huge number of people were registered at this voting station and says it’s one of the biggest voting stations in the area.

Bolander sent an enquiry to the IEC on the morning of Thursday May 30, as to what the reasons for the delay at this voting station was and whether they are aware of the voters’ complaints. Additionally, the IEC was asked for an overall overview on election operations in the Helderberg basin. Their response will be published when received.