Voters: Let’s flip the script

By Emily Setona

QWAQWA – Voters queuing at Beacon High school voting station agreed that it is time to change the script and vote for change.
Lucas Motsapi and a group of elderly voters who have been voting since 1994 said these elections must bring about real change.

Mother and daughter Mamosebetsi Mofokeng and Madineo Thaane came together to cast their votes because Mofokeng had to come to assist her mentally handicapped daughter on Wednesday. She couldn’t find time to vote on Monday due to work commitments.

“I have been voting since 1994 and I am here today because I would like to see my daughter being employed one day despite that fact that she has mental disability. It is time to see real change; we cannot afford to suffer like this forever,” Mofokeng said.

Mamosebetsi Mofokeng and daughter Madineo Thaane wearing glasses at the Beacon high school voting station.

A group of elderly ladies from the Methodist church chanted the slogan ‘one way one heart’ as they unanimously agreed that they are here to cast their vote because they want real change.

“I am a member of the Methodist church, and our slogan is ‘one way one heart’. This is what I wish for our country – to have one way that will bring about real change for our community because so many things are going wrong around us,” Lucy Mokoena who has been voting since 1994 said in an interview with The Guard.

Elderly ladies at the Beacon high school voting station.

According to Lucas Motsapi, it is time to flip the script on the government and vote for leaders who will implement programmes that will bring about change for all not just a select few.

“If we vote wisely our votes should be able to challenge the status quo and bring about real change. The challenge with the current situation is that everyone has settled into a normalcy of corruption and presidents want to sit for more than the terms that our constitution prescribes.
“It is high time our votes shook things up so that we can change this terrible culture,” Motsapi said.

After casting his vote on Monday, a Member of the Free State provincial Legislature Thembeni Nxangisa told this publication: “This was a very exciting and nerve wrecking experience, to see the three ballot papers and to realize that we have reached a different milestone in our country’s history. I feel good but at the same time nervous. I do hope that the best man wins, and that people use their votes wisely.”