#Elections2024: Look what made BCT front page dated May 6, 1994, just after the first democratic elections (April 27).

The Benoni City Council planned to spend R1 125 on several of the new Y-flags.

May 25, 2024

Benoni City Times 1 minute read

Council was urged to sell the old SA flags to the public.

Nats win the local skirmish
The ANC may have won the war, but the NP has won the skirmish – at least in Benoni.
After the final votes were counted and recounted in the city hall on Monday, unofficial figures showed the National Party as the winner in both the national and the provincial stakes.
Not that this matters much in the final tally, as all the votes will land up in two big melting pots – the National Assembly and the PWV region – both of which will be won conclusively by the ANC.
But Benoni NP members fell victorious nevertheless, especially as an estimated 30 000 people from Daveyton, Etwatwa and elsewhere were bused into Benoni when the voting got off to a sluggish start in those townships.
MP for Benoni Johan Lemmer believes this indicates that a “significant” number of blacks voted for the NP.
More than 76 000 people voted at Benoni’s 10 polling stations. Another 28 000 voted in Actonville and Wattville.

The lead story in the BCT dated May 6, 1994.

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Peace Committee played a vital role
The Benoni-Boksburg Peace Committee played an invaluable role in keeping last week’s election violence-free.
But spokesman Brian Smith was quick to give voters most of the credit: “The level of tolerance was wonderful. People, despite standing for hours in queues, had a sense of celebration.”
The peace committee command centres, of which the main one was stationed at Benoni Central Methodist Church, were run on strict military lines for 10 days.
More than 500 trained peace monitors worked eight-hour shifts around the clock, monitoring Benoni, Daveyton, Reiger Park and Actonville – an area spanning 420m².
They helped with crowd control, held babies while voters voted, transported voters to polling stations and assisted overworked home affairs to issue temporary identity documents.

Peace monitors played a valuable role during the 1994 elections.

Old flags for sale
Anyone interested in an old South African flag?
The Benoni City Council, which plans to spend R1 125 on several of the new Y-flags, doesn’t quite know what to do with the old ones. But Edgar Julyan says the old flags should be sold to the public as they may become collector items one day.