60% of voters do not exercise their right
With just over 60% of people in the province not showing up to vote, a dismal voters turnout of 39,63% has been reported by the IEC.
A provincial Independent Electoral Commission communications officer, Thanduxolo Chembeni, said there were
1 903 239 people registered in Mpumalanga, however, of that number, only 754 211 (39.63%) came out to actually vote.
Lowveld residents took to social media to share with Lowvelder their reasons for not voting, while others shared why they did make their mark. Some however, said they tried to vote, but could not due to fact that they were registered to vote elsewhere.
Posting their thoughts and opinions on the Lowvelder Facebook page, people had mixed feelings about the process.
Alucia Gumbi posted her reasons for not voting.
“I didn’t vote because I feel like I’m helping the corrupt fill in their own pockets,” she wrote.
“I’ve been voting all these years and nothing has changed in terms of service delivery. I think voting only works or brings change for those living in the suburbs and municipality owned townships.”
Oswell Sakhile BayaSethu posted that he didn’t vote either.
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“I did not vote because I have been an unemployed graduate for eight years now, We are being blinded by internships and short-term contracts, Mpumalanga government is worse, particularly agriculture.”
Chermone Lawton posted that she didn’t vote as it was a long weekend and people rather went camping or took the opportunity to rest rather than vote.
Kevon Shabangu posted on the Lowvelder Facebook page, “I went during the voter registration weekend to change my address at Valencia hall. After that I checked on the IEC website and it showed my address had changed successfully.
“On the day of the elections, I was told I never changed my address and I was sent to the IEC offices only to be told that there’s nothing they could do.
The lady helping me even looked annoyed and said she didn’t understand why I’m was angry because they wouldn’t let me vote, it’s not a big deal I should just wait for the next elections”.
Shandré Groenewald du Plessis posted that she didn’t manage to vote.
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“I didn’t vote. I moved from Barberton to Mbombela. I registered to vote at St Peter’s School. I was told that I was registered to vote there, but when I got there my name wasn’t on the list. My boyfriend’s name was on, but not mine. Can’t understand why as we went to register the same day and time.”
A provincial IEC communications officer, Thanduxolo Chembeni, said that the registration addresses might have been affected due to some wards gaining new boundaries.
“Wards 16, 17, 18 have new boundaries. Valencia was in Ward 17 but is now in Ward 18 and the Valencia area behind Valley Hyper was Ward 17 but is now Ward 16. These changes were made by the Municipal Demarcation Board.
“The IEC will invite political parties to formally explain how their individual wards have been affected as per demarcation process and they will sign off the maps to confirm the changes in ward boundaries,” he said.
“The IEC will also now target the affected communities through a project called Targeted Community Registration, whose aim is to target only those affected communities by the ward boundary changes by visiting each and every household and re-register them to their new wards.
“If we find no one we leave a printed note advising the people that IEC officials were there and they are advised to visit their local office to re-register so that they are located at a new correct voting district and correct segment of the voters’ roll.”
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