Everyone happy as voting goes off without a hitch in Port Alfred

Happiness and excitement showed on the faces of people who voted in Nemato and Port Alfred on Wednesday morning.

For some this was the chance they had been waiting for, with many sharing the same sentiments of hope for change after the elections.

DA Ward 10 councillor Ray Schenk said voting had gone smoothly at the Port Alfred Civic Centre.

“We are doing very well, we are happy with the people that have come already. I must say even the treatment from the IEC workers is excellent. The presiding officers are also very helpful. So overall we are very happy with election day,” Schenk said.

ACDP Port Alfred chairman Amanda Rathbone said things looked really promising in the morning and they were happy with the number of people who braved the cold to come to exercise their right to vote.

“I must say things are looking up. There are quite a number of people who came and voted. But nationally and provincially it is really hard to tell sometimes, especially with our current state of the country. People are making last-minute decisions, but the outcomes could be anything,” Rathbone said.

Resident Pat Whitfield said: “What we need as a country is a government with lots of control, to stop corruption in our country.”

Nombulelo Manengele, who lives in Station Hill, said that she was voting to see change take place after the elections.

“We really hope that the government could create work opportunities for the youth, we need our roads to be fixed especially in the townships – they look very messy. We need quality education for our children. We really want to see change in the state of our country,” Manengele said.

ANC member Donald Loza Zinqundu said they were confident of victory.

“Today we come in confidence. Three months before the elections we had been going door to door visiting houses – we saw how positive people were about the ANC. Today we are stress-free, we are just happy and know that we will get positive results,” Zinqundu said.