Wheelchair-bound struggle stalwart Albertina Sisulu joined tens of thousands of elderly and disabled citizens in casting a special vote on Tuesday.
Walter Sisulu’s widow (90) was accompanied by an African National Congress (ANC) contingent headed by Deputy President Baleka Mbete, but teasingly told reporters ”my vote is my business” as she cast her ballot a few blocks from her home in Linden, Johannesburg.
”One cannot pre-empt what will happen after the elections, one must vote and see,” she said softly to Mbete, who relayed the remark.
Other senior citizens who also voted at Linden High School, many leaning on canes, said they were hoping Wednesday’s election would change the country’s political landscape.
”I’m hoping this is going to see a massive shift in South Africa … from the rot that we have seen in the past few years,” said retired businessman Ted Keartland (66).
”Cope is hopefully going to split a lot of the support for the ruling party and for once we can stop the landslide.”
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said about 86 000 people had applied to cast special votes on Monday and Tuesday.
The IEC added that the actual number of those who voted over the two days could be higher though, because the deadline for registration for people in hospitals and retirement homes was extended to 5pm on Monday.
IEC chairperson Brigalia Bam said the commission believed the special voting process went well and that everything was in place for the country’s other 23,1-million voters to go to the polls on Wednesday.
”We are actually ready.”
Those who were eligible to cast special votes included pregnant women, people who were out of the country on Wednesday, IEC officials and police and soldiers who were on duty on election day.
Bam said the special votes would be counted at the respective voting stations, alongside ballots cast on Wednesday.
The country’s most famous senior citizen was not among those who voted on Monday and Tuesday.
Former president Nelson Mandela (90) was due to cast his ballot on election day in Houghton, Johannesburg, where he has voted in recent polls.
Last week thousands of expatriates cast special votes at South African missions abroad, after the Constitutional Court extended the right to vote to citizens living overseas provided they were already on the voters’ role.
According to the government, 7 427 of those, about half the number registered to vote overseas, cast their ballots in London. — Sapa