Durban — The promise of money to buy a fast-food lunch was enough to get Umbilo resident Yolanda Louw out of bed and into a voting station. Although she is 25 she has never bothered to vote, because she says it would take any party years to fix South Africa.
However, this year she was paid to do it.
“I made a bet with my granddad, he said if I register to vote he is going to give me money,” she said.
With R200 on the table and confident she could get some more out of him, Louw headed to Carrington Heights Primary School in Umbilo to make her mark.
“I didn’t know what the parties were promising so I thought I would just look at the paper and choose the colours that I like,” she said.
However, the sheer number of parties on the ballot papers left her a tad overwhelmed and so she came up with a plan.
“I looked at the ballot and started saying ‘inky pinky ponky, daddy had a ponky. Ponky died daddy cried, inky pinky ponky’, and moved my finger to a new party with each word and I made my mark where my finger stopped,” she said.
Afterwards, the data capturer went to pick up her money and perhaps a McDonald’s meal for lunch.
Meanwhile, Camila Bowen and her partner promised their three children an “outing” and so they all got into the car and drove to the voting station. As the three little ones waited for a few minutes outside the voting station they said it was “boring” because they were too small to vote.
Bowen said she didn’t expect to just walk in and out, and that the promised “outing” would be so short. She knew exactly who she would vote for and was happy that it was quick and fuss-free.
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Daily News