(29 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Soweto, Johannesburg – 29 May 2024
1. Various of people waiting to vote at the Soweto Hitekani Primary School polling station
2. SOUNDBITE (Zulu) Velaphi Banda, first voter at polling station:
“If they can provide jobs for the youth to reduce poverty and increase pensions for the elderly. It’s 2,000 rands, it’s too little.”
3. Various of people voting at the Soweto Hitekani Primary School polling station
4. SOUNDBITE (English/Zulu) Teddy Makhubela, voter:
“In this area it’s a bit slow. Most of the previous years at this time it would be very full. So, I don’t know, maybe people are no longer interested to go vote.”
5. Various of electoral staff arranging ballots for voters at the Soweto Hitekani Primary School polling station in Soweto
6. Mid of people waiting to enter the polling station
STORYLINE:
South African polls opened early on Wednesday in the Soweto township of Johannesburg, in an election where the governing party African National Congress is for the first time facing widespread discontent.
Several polls place support for the African National Congress at less than 50%. More than 27 million voters are registered in the country of 60 million.
The ANC has been the governing party since 1994, when it won the first democratic elections in the country led by Nelson Mandela, ending years of white minority rule and apartheid.
Velaphi Banda, the Soweto Hitekani Primary School polling station’s first voter, said whoever wins should “provide jobs for the youth to reduce poverty, and increase pensions for the elderly. It’s 2,000 rands, it’s too little.”
The youth vote is a significant piece of this election, with 42% of registered voters under the age of 40. Few young voters were seen at the Soweto polling station this morning, but some noted the importance of jobs and the economy for young people in the country.
Teddy Makhubela, a voter at Johannesburg’s Soweto township noted fewer voters than in previous years.
Preliminary results are expected in the next few days. If the ANC is unable to obtain more than 50% of the vote, they will have to form a coalition with other parties if they want to reelect President Cyril Ramaphosa under the country’s parliamentary electoral system in which representatives elected by the people choose the president.
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