South AfricaMail & Guardian2 d ago

A moment in history

Yesterday my eight year old granddaughter stepped up to a ballot box and voted for the very first time. The room looked like any other voting station. The voting station scene reminded me of the voting station in Hilbrow where I was the presiding officer in 1994. My granddaughter Melo and her colleagues waited patiently in the long queue, not quite as snaky as our 27 April 1994 queues when we as adult Africans voted for the first time in this country. Melo’s face seemed a mixture of excitement and signs of deep contemplation. I wondered if she had already decided what to vote for or planned to decide when alone in the voting cubicle that ensures no one sees what the voter puts in their ballot paper.

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