Bekkersdal (S. Africa): South African voters shrugged off sporadic violence to cast their ballots in the country’s fifth all-race elections on Wednesday, with many of the 25 million registered voters determined to exercise their hardwon freedom.
Twenty years after South Africans of all colours wowed the world by voting to end apartheid, early rising voters trickled into some 22,263 polling centres across the country from before dawn.
The eve of the ballot was marred by rioting, with police and the army deployed to several areas to keep order. In Bekkersdal near Soweto, protesters threw rocks and set fire to a polling station.
But the township’s residents queued up, vowing not to be dissuaded from using a right they were denied during centuries of racist rule.
“I’m here to vote for my future, I don’t care about what happened here yesterday. I won’t allow it to turn me away” said Nosihle Zikalala.
Another improvised voting station was quickly erected in the middle of the impoverished shack-filled township, with the polls delayed by only a few minutes. State security minister Siyabonga Cwele visited the area, calling for calm.
