S’bu Ndebele and John Steenhuisen vote at Durban school

It was slightly awkward at Northwood High School in KwaZulu-Natal when former ANC provincial chair and KwaZulu-Natal premier S'bu Ndebele arrived minutes before DA leader John Steenhuisen on Wednesday.

ANC supporters broke into song when Ndebele was ushered into the voting station to cast his ballot, but voters were more interested in Steenhuisen, who arrived with his party’s provincial top brass — provincial leader Francois Rodgers and premier candidate Chris Pappas — and his daughter, Carolynn.

Steenhuisen said he was optimistic about voter turnout and this was a sign of “good things to come”.

He said with the country poised for a coalition government after the elections, things would not be business as usual as it has been for the past 30 years. 

“I think that should excite democrats all over the country and those who value democracy,” said Steenhuisen.

He reiterated his party would not be willing to get into a coalition with the ANC, MK Party and EFF, but was willing to work with parties that had the same objectives as the blue wave.

“There is no use going into a coalition with a party that does not share the same values. There needs to be stability. We have signed an agreement and we have been working hard to put forward an alternative in the past year.”

He said they were confident the multi-party charter would achieve more than 50% of votes.

“If it’s not possible over the next few days we will look at the lie of the land and decide the next step. The parties will always put the interest of SA first because we are determined to build a better country.”

He called on South Africans to vote and use their votes wisely to ensure a future for their families.

“I fundamentally believe tomorrow is a better country, and that is why it’s important that everyone votes and makes their voices heard. This is not a Morkels store where you get a two-year guarantee; rather, this would last a full five years.”

Steenhuisen said he was pleased with the young voter registration statistics, adding while they were not necessarily interested in politics, politics was interested in them.

“Politics is eating up young people’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) money and destroying their ability to be able to start a small business. It is holding them back from being able to find work in an economy that is not growing.” 

Ndebele said he was bullish the ANC would remain in power.

He said: “I am an avid consumer of news, having recently come back from ambassadorship in India. It’s been fascinating to read about the premature autopsy of the ANC. We have heard the ANC is dying from 1975 and 1994 and all of them have failed.”

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