Residents of Randburg suburb hit by incessant power cuts vote in numbers

Residents of Bromhof, the Randburg suburb that has been plagued by electricity and water outages, headed out in droves on Wednesday to cast their votes.

The queue at the Church on Tin Road snaked down the street, lengthening and shortening as the hours passed. Across the road under a tree, a vendor sat behind a makeshift stall selling mugs of coffee and cappuccinos, muffins, energy drinks, vetkoek and polony.

Unwilling to give her name, she said she was a start-out entrepreneur who decided to use the election to kick off her small business. She began her street hustle this week during the special voting days, and her goods proved so popular that some customers placed orders and came back on election day to pick up their orders.

“The polling station opened at 7am, and I was set up by 7.30am and the people started coming,” she said.

Just outside the polling station, party agents manned tables set up under gazebos, ready and willing to chat to interested voters. Joshua Cannell-Frost, 18, was one of the agents.

“I was here at 6am, and I will be here until counting ends, which I think will be about 3am tomorrow morning,” he said.

Asked what his duties were, he said: “I am supposed to sit here and talk to people, but I have ended up helping the IEC officials with their duties, helping elderly people, pregnant ladies and people with babies to cast their votes.”

A policeman standing guard, who did not want to give his name because SAPS protocols allow only for designated communications officials to speak to the media, said he was on duty, tasked to ensure there was no trouble at the Church on Tin Road polling station.

“It’s been good, people have been happy and everything is peaceful,” he said, directing a woman who arrived with her elderly mother on oxygen, who wanted assistance to vote.

“Park right here in front, and I will help you ma’am,” he said, guiding her into a special parking bay and then assisting her to get her ailing mother to the booths.

Voters in the queue were mostly silent, standing with serious faces and moving forward bit-by-bit. Many were unwilling to speak on record or give their opinions, though many agreed that Bromhof had become more popularly known as ‘Brom-off’ because of the many, prolonged outages regularly experienced by the suburb.

“We just want things to get better,” they said, referring to the water outage that had hit just the day before the elections.

Sisters Jean Legge and Nicci Lotriet, who both live in the area and had met at the polling station to queue and vote together, said they felt duty-bound to vote and had both lived most of their adult lives in the suburb.

“We arrived with our coffee and our hats and we were ready to wait as long as it takes to do what we need to do. We joined the line at 11.23am.” Legge said.

As they neared the front of the queue Lotriet was whisked away by an IEC official, who said she needed to join a different queue as she had only recently moved back to Bromhof and was regarded differently to those registered long term.

A few minutes later, both sisters were done with their votes and were ready to walk back to Legge’s home in a town house complex in the same street.

“I think I deserve a drink now,” Legge said, adding she felt pleased and proud to have made her mark.

“We can only hope that it has helped make a difference,” said Lotriet.

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