Diepkloof Hostel residents voting for a better life
Despite the depressing conditions at the Diepkloof Hostel, Sipho Zwane was up very early to cast his vote in hope that one day his life would change.
|||Johannesburg - Sipho Zwane has been staying at Diepkloof Hostel for the past 30 years under conditions he says are not fit for humans.
The walls are collapsing, the water is not clean and dirty toilets have been erected in front of people's houses.
He, his partner and two children live in the hostel and also use bucket toilets like the rest of the residents.
It was at this very same hostel two years ago that women who live here stripped and bared their genitals during peak hour traffic to draw attention to the conditions under which they live.
They had complained that their bucket toilets went for months without being collected resulting in an unbearable stench around the hostel.
Voting underway at Diepkloof hostel @IOL @mojoIOL @TheStar_news #Elections2016 #ElectionDay pic.twitter.com/Lx1cAXlu28
— IG: MojoIOL (@mojoIOL) August 3, 2016
Despite these depressing conditions, Zwane was up very early on Wednesday to cast his vote in hope that one day his life would change for the best.
He has been voting IFP since 1994 and believes his vote will one day bring change into his life.
Zwane said the ANC had failed people and there was no way he could give them his vote.
He said the councillor in his area was from the ANC and lived in a “nice” house while leaving them to live in squalor at the hostel.
“I think IFP can bring a difference so that they can get a better life. I can't give the ANC my vote; they failed to help people. They are only busy with corruption. If IFP won, we would get clean water, have electricity and live the kind of life that a human being should live,” the 49-year-old said.
Bongiwe Mvelase has been staying at the hostel for the past seven years and just like Zwane, she wishes her life was different.
The 27-year-old woman said she has voted three times before, but there's been no difference in her life.
She has been voting for the same party since she started voting and did not plan to change anytime soon despite the fact that the promises they were made never materialised.
“They promise change when we are at rallies. I'm voting them again; I think there will be change this time,” she said, not saying who it was that she'd vote for.
botho.molosankwe@inl.co.za
Elections Bureau