By Sue-Ann de Wet

Thousands of South Africans took the opportunity to cast their votes, in spite of the fact that they are living abroad. On 17 and 18 May approximately 78 000 South Africans who are registered to vote abroad, had the chance to vote at embassies across the world.

Early votes in the Middle East

Voting started on Friday in certain parts of the Middle East, where South Africans were the first to cast their votes. The process continued throughout the weekend. Most of the other voting stations opened on Saturday.

Busy Saturday at various voting stations

One of the first voting stations to open on Saturday was in Canberra, Australia, where hundreds of South Africans waited in long queues. Many of them travelled very far to make their crosses.

In London there were very long queues at South Africa House on Trafalgar Square on Saturday. Voters had to wait more than seven hours to vote. With more than 24 000 registered voters in London, the voting station was also open on Sunday.

Votes across the world

From London to The Hague to Dubai people streamed to the voting stations, in spite of challenging weather conditions. In Dubai, for example, they had to cope with unbearable heat. Chantal Roux mentioned that it was also very hot in Abu Dhabi, but the spirit among those in the queue was cheerful and typical of South Africans. The personnel at the embassy performed their duties well and supplied water to voters. Hyperama handed out ice cream. Karin de Jager affirmed that the spirit was “lekker”, especially with the ice cream and free boerie rolls that were donated by Hyperama and Lekker Meats. Mia Esterhuyse, also voting in Abu Dhabi, said the queue was quite short in the middle of the day due to the terrible heat.

Long queues formed in Dublin, but fortunately it was not raining, one voter remarked. While standing in the queue, some voters were lucky enough to come across Springbok rugby star RG Snyman and former Springbok and Western Province player Dan van Zyl. Elaine Spang, who also voted in Dublin, said Wiseman provided delicious boerie rolls at the end of the queue.

Problems and complaints

In general the voting went off without hitches. However, there were complaints that several South Africans were not allowed to use their South African identity documents to vote. At the voting station in Canberra, Australia, a few South Africans only had their passports with them, although identity documents were required for voting.

Lorraine Blaauw wrote that it was wonderful to see so many people at the voting station in the Netherlands. The experience was, however, not very pleasant as the voters had to squeeze into a small gazebo that served as the voting station. The voting booths were also not partitioned off for privacy.

In addition the entrance and exit were not indicated which caused some confusion. At 19:00 voters were still standing in a queue of nearly 2 km and the local police service started chasing the people away because they were standing in front of private residences. By 19:45 the queue was still one kilometre long.

According to Letitia Grundling, who also voted in The Hague, they arrived early, but like hundreds of other voters, they were far back in the queue. There was only one person doing the scanning, although they knew that approximately 6 000 voters were expected. Later on a second person turned up to assist with the scanning.

Irrespective of these hitches, it was still a lovely experience: The volunteers did their best and all the voters had a good time socialising with fellow South Africans in the millipede queue. Not only do they watch rugby together – they are still trying to make a difference.

Highlights of the voting

South Africans proudly showed off their ink-marked thumbs after voting in Seoul, South Korea, and Hong Kong. Jessica Bodenstein reported that the voters in Hong Kong were in high spirits and many were dressed in their green and gold. In Germany approximately 1 260 voters registered in Munich and in Berlin about 1 478 voters made their crosses.

Personal experiences

South Africans abroad showed their commitment to the democratic process, in spite of the distances or challenges that they had to face to cast their votes.