Elderly uMshwathi residents skip voting due to long distances and makeshift bridge
Residents in the Mpolweni area of Kamelhouk have to cross a makeshift bridge made up of tree logs and walk about an hour to get to their respective voting stations.
Thabiso Goba
Thembisile Mthethwa from uMshwathi in KwaZulu-Natal said she won’t be voting in these elections because the voting stations were far. Picture: Nwabiso Dlamini
Nwabiso Dlamini
Some elderly female citizens in uMshwathi did not cast their ballots on Wednesday because their voting stations were too far away.
Residents in the Mpolweni area of Kamelhouk have to cross a makeshift bridge made up of tree logs and have to walk about an hour to get to their respective voting stations.
However, some residents said they could not do this and had chosen to stay at home.
When EWN visited the makeshift bridge in Kamelhouk, and noticed a majority of the people who were crossing it were men.
The bridge is made up of two narrow tree logs that shake when stepped upon.
Many women and elderly people cannot cross the river on this bridge and have to wade through the knee-high water.
Elderly resident Thembisile Mthethwa keeps a pair of socks on her that she puts on before crossing to stop her from slipping on the wet rocks.
“I don’t have a good reason for not voting today except to say that I’m tired and I don’t have the energy to make this long trip to the voting station,” she said.
Mthethwa and other residents who spoke to EWN said a lot of elderly women stayed away from the polls today for similar reasons.