At the South African High Commission in Ottawa, Canada, First Secretary Johan Nel and his colleagues were waiting for South Africans living in and around the state of Ontario to trickle in.
It was just after 9am local time and only about 15 people had come in to cast their ballots. ”But that’s over 10% of the vote,” he told the Mail & Guardian Online on Wednesday.
Compared to the 7 427 registered expat voters in London, the High Commission in Ottawa is one of the smaller voting stations abroad with only about 100 registers voters.
Nel said he was impressed with the dedication of some of the voters, who took time off work and made special travel arrangements to get to the voting station. ”We had voters travelling from Montreal and Vancouver, which is by air about seven hours away.”
As in the general election in South Africa next week, polls will stay open until 7pm.
”Within an hour after that [the votes] will be dispatched to South Africa via courier service,” said Nel.
Voters stream to South Africa House
The South African High Commission in the UK said there were still long queues of people waiting to cast their ballots at South Africa House in London on Wednesday afternoon.
”The response is amazing, although the queues are moving swiftly, there is still a large number of people coming in,” said the minister of corporate services at the commission.
Fresh from his flight from South Africa and standing in line to vote in London — four hours before voting station closure — was Nathan Waywell. The base guitarist of local outfit Cassette and his band will be on tour in London in during voting time in South Africa.
”We arrived here two hours ago and we hit straight to the polls and the mood here is great,” Waywell told the M&G Online.
He said he insisted on voting even when abroad because he wants to strengthen the opposition. ”I always vote for democracy and I believe that strengthening the opposition is maintaining a healthy democratic society,” he added.
Waywell is certain the African National Congress (ANC) is going to win the elections but said a two-third’s majority would cause lopsidedness in Parliament. ”South Africa really needs a strong opposition party right now.”
By late afternoon in London the crowd at South Africa House had begun to thin.
Unsure of whether she would be able to cast her vote, Lameze Hendricks, a special needs teacher from Cape Town, waited nervously in the queue.
Hendricks had received email confirmation that her registration had been processed but this had not been reflected online.
”I hope it works out because I’ve been out of London and I travelled all the way back to vote,” she said.
The Department of Home Affairs in Pretoria advised her to take her confirmation email to the station where she can vote. ”It’s very dood [dead] here. It’s probably because it’s after work. Now it’s just a case of getting it over and done with,” she said as she waited.
The South African embassy in Oslo, Norway, has about 25 registered voters.
”There was nobody when I went to vote today,” said Rashaad Amra, a Master’s economics student studying at the University of Oslo.
Amra told the M&G Online that he was excited to vote in this year’s elections. ”I think South Africa has reached its crossroads. For the first time we have a formidable black opposition party so it is a very interesting time to be voting,” he said.
”I don’t see any major changes in power in the country but an element of power-shed within the ANC is definitely expected.”