While thousands of citizens were casting their ballots at voting stations across Nelson Mandela Bay on Wednesday, many despondent residents in Port Elizabeth’s northern areas stood, just metres away from voting stations, and watched – they were the ones not voting.
Disillusioned by gang warfare and unemployment, many residents – some still in their nightgowns – huddled in small groups chatting about the deep resentment they felt and how that had influenced their decision to boycott the polls.
At 7am, outside the three voting stations in Helenvale, the commotion came mostly from party activists setting up outside of the venues’ gates, getting ready to welcome voters who trickled in.
Talking quietly among themselves within the confines of their branded gazebos, the mostly ANC, DA and ACDP supporters fiddled with registration lists, expecting the more than 7,000 registered voters to stream through the gates of the three schools in the area.
But voters were few and far between.
At one voting station, only a single voter had shown up by the time doors opened.
Douglas van Rensburg said he woke up at 3am to cast his ballot at Hillcrest Primary School in Chamois Street – one of the many gang hotspots in Helenvale, which was under constant police surveillance.
Here, during school hours, and just a few metres away from the school, one of the police’s most sophisticated armoured vehicles stood watch in an effort to ensure the safety of both pupils and teachers.
On Wednesday, a Nyala was stationed outside the school and four police officers patrolled the vicinity.
About a kilometre away from Hillcrest Primary School, at the Helenvale and Bayview primary schools, residents’ concerns appeared to shift more towards service delivery and unemployment.
Most street corners in Helenvale, some recorded on video by The Herald, were riddled with huge piles of rubbish.
Asked why she was not voting, Mariam Louw, 32, pointed to two rubbish piles – one close to the multimillion-rand Helenvale Resource Centre in Kobus Road.
“I don’t know why they [voters] are wasting their time,” she said, with her arms crossed, sitting on a crumbling wall.
“I’m not going to waste my time and vote people into power who clearly do not care about how we live.
“Look at that [rubbish], our children play there.
“It’s like that all around the place. The place is dirty.”
A group of young men, initially standing at a street corner, edged closer.
"Ons soek werk [we want jobs]," one of them said.
“There are no jobs here and then they want us to vote,” the young man said, with his friends nodding their heads in agreement.
“They [political parties] come here and promise us, so how can you vote for them when they make these empty promises?” another resident, Augastine Femmers, 38, asked.
Other residents who braved the chill and rainy weather said they were voting, which they hoped would usher in change.
Van Rensburg said: “If you look at Helenvale, as you come [into the area] you will see that things are not in a good condition, so I believe that if we cast our votes – and we vote right – that the new or current government can make a huge difference in our community, especially when it comes to upgrading our houses.”
Gelvandale resident Clive Burke said: “I think it’s our duty as citizens living in a democracy to cast our vote and give input towards our future.
“If you don’t do that, then you can’t complain tomorrow.”
Lloyd Barry, 58, who voted at David Livingstone Secondary School in Schauderville, agreed.
“I needed to come out and vote today because our children’s futures depend on it. It’s very important to vote because at least you have a say – if you don’t vote, then you can’t tomorrow complain.”
In Missionvale, Funeka Maposa, 48, said she was living in hope.
“I have been living in a shack for 17 years and I want a house,” she said.
“I have been voting all these years hoping that change will come, my ID book is full [of IEC stamps] and look at me, I’m soaking wet, but I’m here.”