By Kai Kong
South Africa goes to the polls today, but South Africans in the UK have already cast their votes in an election that could see the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lose its majority for the first time since the end of apartheid.
Beneath a sunny sky in London 11 days ago, a line of voters stretched around South Africa House overlooking Trafalgar Square. Some waited for more than four hours to enter the polling station.
London is home to South Africa’s largest polling station abroad, as 24,000 of the 78,000 overseas voters registered abroad live in the UK, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
The South African High Commission told Count that over 13,000 South Africans had cast their votes in London.
“When we, as the people abroad, are given the opportunity to vote, we’re also voting for the people at home who can’t come out,” Asanda Ntombela, 23, said, “which is really important because that’s the only way that we can make change together.”
Ashton Truter, 22, a first-time voter, said: “For the first time in a very long time, we have the opportunity to kick our bad government out and replace them with a good government.”
According to the latest survey by the Social Research Foundation, support for the frontrunner, the governing ANC, remains below 50 per cent. Followed then by the opposition Democratic Alliance, which was backed by over one-fifth of the respondents.
Former president Jacob Zuma’s party, uMkhonto we Sizwe, ranked third in the poll, although the country’s top court has barred Zuma from running.
The polls suggest South Africa may see its first coalition government since apartheid ended 30 years ago.
In London, members of the diaspora were voting with their eyes on the future.
Jamie Dall, 43, was worried about crime and poverty. She saw voting as her duty and a way to allow the future generation to return.
“Especially now with Brexit, there’s no option of going to Europe,” she said, “so retain what you can.”
Marc Pretorius, 65, who has lived in the UK for more than 20 years, said voting was important to maintain democracy in South Africa after decades of continuous ANC rule. “I think there needs to be a strong opposition to make sure that democracy works,” he said.
Feature Image: A voter outside the South Africa House. Photo credit: Kai Kong.