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Local Government Elections Update Thabiso Goba · Drive with John Perlman

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: South and East and welcome now to 702 Drive, our
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: EWN colleague, Tabisul Gorbo, who's covering things for us in KZN. Tabisul,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: very good afternoon to you. Where are you now?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, John. I'm currently in Pietermaritzburg. We started off
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: the day in Umschwa in the KZN Midlands and now
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: in Pietermaritzburg, just slowly making our way back to the
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Durban CBD.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, so Peter Marisberger, a very fiercely contested area as
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: most of KZN would be. What kind of things have
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: you been hearing from the voters that you've had a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: chance to chat to?
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Well, John, we started our morning in Umshwat here in
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Wat Thin in Mpolwini. And one of the reasons that
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: we started there, John, we did a story a couple
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of weeks back about this makeshift bridge that exists where
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: there are about these two tree logs that people have
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: to walk over if they want to get to shops, clinics,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: and any kind of civilization that's on the other end
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: of Umshwat. of that bridge. And one of the interesting things, John,
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  Speaker 2: is that when I called people, I found out that
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  Speaker 2: for people to actually get to a voting station, they
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  Speaker 2: also have to cross this bridge and walk about an
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: hour to actually get to a voting station. And it
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  Speaker 2: was very interesting, John, when you got to the morning
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  Speaker 2: that there was a number of people who actually did
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: you know, make that crossing. They did cross the bridge
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: and actually did walk about an hour to get to
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  Speaker 2: the voting station. We spoke to some of them, you know,
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  Speaker 2: some of them telling us that, you know, it is
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  Speaker 2: important to vote. And the reason they are doing this
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  Speaker 2: is because this is the only way, you know, that
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: they can bring about any positive change in the area.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: But it was also a bit saddening, John, because a
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  Speaker 2: lot of women, especially a lot of elderly people who
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: obviously can't cross this bridge, and obviously can't walk for
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: about an hour a lot of them stayed behind and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: didn't vote and we also did get a couple of
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  Speaker 2: reports john that when they were supposed to be special
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  Speaker 2: voting on monday and tuesday some ic officials could not
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: reach some of these areas that is because it was
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: raining and the river was full but also because it's
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  Speaker 2: also very difficult to cross this makeshift bridge. So some
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  Speaker 2: IEC officials obviously couldn't reach some of those people who
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: were approved for home visits. So it's, you know, a
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: case of some people did go out and vote, but
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: also some people, due to circumstances beyond their control, also
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: stayed at home and couldn't participate.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Thanks very much, Tawisul Gorba, just giving us an update
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: from KZA.