Voters hope for better times
There was general concern among members of the community around the fact that few youth came in to register at voting stations at Titi Jonas, the Civic Centre and Station Hill that were visited by Talk of the Town at the weekend.
An IEC official at the Civic Centre said on Sunday at about 3pm, though numbers still had to be checked, more than 100 people had registered to vote.
Saturday morning was busy at the Civic Centre but soon tapered to a trickle towards early and late afternoon. On Sunday members of the public arrived at the voting station intermittently throughout the day to register.
The voting station at Titi Jonas Community Centre had only seen seven members of the public come in during the morning on Saturday and the voting station remained fairly quiet throughout the day.
Outside the voting stations, party organisers sat quietly in the hot sun in anticipation of signing up a member or two.
Bruce Carlyon who recently retired to Port Alfred and came to register at the Civic Centre, said there is nothing more important than casting your vote. “All the politicians need a wake-up call. I think it’s worth putting down your vote.”
Despondency was the order of the day among the few people Talk of the Town had surveyed at the Station Hill voting station. Resident after resident most of them preferring to stay anonymous
said they were not even aware of who their ward councillor was. Complaints about lack of infrastructure, facilities, an ever-increasing drug problem, uncut verges and potholes that are either not fixed or only patched up, abound.
They bemoaned the lack of facilities that could divert the youth from the drug and crime scourge. “People are dying of tik,” said one resident who did not want to be named. Another Station Hill resident said she had lost her son to drugs over the December period.
“What’s the point of voting because nothing gets done however, we vote because it’s more like a ‘nothing-to-lose’ vote,” another said.
Two elderly men from the Station Hill community, who said they had ‘seen it all’ in their 80 years, spoke to Talk of the Town about the despondency that hung in the air.
Groenvlei’s Gladwin Wessels accompanied by his friend, Joseph Stuurman, says he walked to the voting station because “I am merely following what everyone else is doing”.
“But vote, I must I want things to change for the better in our community, because we have been suffering for a long time,” Wessels said.
He said it was disheartening to vote only for the community to find itself struggling despite promises made by politicians. “Things are bad in our area taps are leaking, there are streets that are filled with water due to underground leaks, grass is not cut on the verges, huge potholes are all over the place in streets and, worse still, cars are driving fast, and avoiding these potholes at the same time.
“No one but no one comes to fix up our places.”
A despondent Wessels said they had been voting for years but, as far as he was concerned, no visible changes had come to Station Hill. “The problem I have is that development is focused on other areas while Station Hill is left on the sidelines.
“I moved here when we were relocated in 1971 due to the Group Areas Act. Before Station Hill we were all living together, black and coloured we were like brothers and sisters.
“In those years, our elders were strict.
“Nowadays, things have changed. youngsters are fighting with elders and we as elders get into trouble when we discipline the youth. The youth are lost.”
Stuurman said: “I hope my vote will bring change.”
“I am hoping there will be job opportunities and sports facilities can be developed for the youth and that roads can be fixed.
“It’s better to vote than to do nothing I have nothing to lose. Everything must be fixed.”
“The youth are getting out of hand. The government must come up with job-creation initiatives to help them.
“If there are jobs the youth will not get involved in drugs and crime.”
Talk of the Town visited IEC voting stations in Port Alfred, Bathurst and Kenton. We wanted to see if the stations were up and running, whether people were coming to register, and what the mood was. Mark Carrels visited three voting stations in Port Alfred; Sue Maclennan visited three in Bathurst and Sibulele Mtongana visited the IEC voting station at the Kenton Town Hall