Voters angered by delays at Waterloo voting station

DURBAN - THERE were several disgruntled people in Waterloo, near Verulam, yesterday morning as they waited in the sun for more than two hours for the voting station at the local primary school to open.

Voting started late because the electoral staff could allegedly not fetch the poll material on time.

Voters who claimed to have been at the station early in the morning were angry when The Mercury arrived.

Resident Dumisani Ndlovu said people were angry and there was a lot of chaos because of this.

“Voting started late here but eventually everything went well.

“People were angry and some party agents were also causing conflicts, but now everything has been sorted out,” he said.

This station seemed to have many people coming in to cast their vote. Most of the residents were elderly.

At another station at the Waterloo Secondary School, health-care workers were on duty at a pop-up vaccination site to give voters their Covid-19 jab. However, some voters were not interested in getting the vaccine.

A resident, 34, who did not want to be named, said: “I am not interested in getting the vaccine.

“All I care about is seeing the youth of Waterloo getting jobs and getting off the streets. I hate to see people younger than I being drug addicts. Some are even turning to crime because there are no jobs. I want to see change, that is why I am here,” said the resident.

Dingeni Ntuli, 58, who was on crutches, said she had been voting since 1994 and she just wanted an RDP house.

“All I want is to get the RDP house. It’s been years since I went to register for one but till this day I have not received it. I live in a room with my grandchild and it is not easy. I am voting today for the sake of it,” she said.

Ntombikayise Madela, who cried after voting, said she wanted to see change in her community and to get a RDP house that she had been waiting for since 2004.

“I would really love to get an RDP house. I do piece jobs so that I can take care of my children. My daughter is in matric and I don’t know how

I can continue to further her studies,” she said.

Latoya Hulley, 31, said the only reason she was voting was because when issues or queries were raised with a ward councillor, they asked if people voted.

“They will look at your ID before they think of helping you so that is why I am here to vote. Otherwise, I do not have a good reason. I have given up because there is no change. We are still renting houses.

“We do not have a home built by our government,” she said.

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