Deputy President Paul Mashatile cast his vote at the St Johannes Lutheran Church in Kelvin, Sandton, earlier this morning. Mashatile, who grew up in Alexandra township, chose to cast his vote near his Buccleuch house in the north of Johannesburg, just outside Alexandra. His wife, Humile Mashatile, also cast her vote at the same station, wearing a green and gold dress.

NO SECURITY CONCERNS

Mashatile expressed confidence in the peacefulness of the elections, urging the public to exercise their right to vote. He said that with more than 23,000 voting stations opened this morning, he is confident that everything will go smoothly. "There may be glitches here and there, but I just want to plead with the public to go out and exercise their votes," he said. The deputy president added that as the ruling party, they are also not concerned about the outcomes. "I think the more people come out to vote, the more it is good for our democracy. We have been informed about some minor glitches in places like the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal but there are plans in place to make sure that we have peaceful elections," he said.

BUSINESS AS USUAL IN ALEX

Just a few kilometres is Alexandra.Several individuals were socialising in groups while others went on with their daily chores. For other residents of Alexandra township, it was just business as usual as they carried on with their daily tasks. Some didn't seem interested in visiting the voting stations to exercise their right to vote.

NO NEED TO VOTE

Mbali Bhengu, a resident from 10th Avenue, expressed her lack of interest in voting, as she believed that it would not bring about any significant change in her life. She questioned the new regulation that required individuals to vote in their previous voting stations, making it difficult for her to travel back to KwaZulu-Natal to cast her vote, as she had not updated her address since relocating to Alexandra. Lilly Martins who owns a business selling cow heads said that she was fine serving meat to her customers as they are buying it. "I don't see the need to go and vote. I've been voting for the past 15 years, and nothing has changed. I'm still staying in the same street in a shack and no government has bothered to help my business grow. I am still running my business from this small tent for the past five years. I'm sorry, they will miss my vote and I do not regret it. My cow heads are going to give me money to sustain myself and my family," she said.

Another group of locals voiced their skepticism towards voting, believing that it would only result in politicians gaining more power and financial benefits. "What happened to the 1 million houses that we were promised by Ramaphosa? Nothing has happened and nobody has bothered to come back and update us on the housing issue. Life is still the same and in fact, life is worse now for us residents of Alexandra. We prefer to focus on making money through gambling and enjoying it by buying beers than wasting our time going to voting stations," said a resident, Thabang Msimang.