Cape Town - On April 27, 1994, Gugulethu resident Nompumelelo Zicina woke before dawn, unable to sleep with the excitement of being able to cast her first vote.
Just like millions of first-time voters, she hoped voting for the first democratic government would improve her living conditions, education and the future for her family.
Zicina, now 68, said although the country was declared free, the state of her community was far from what they had hoped for.
The former domestic worker spoke to the Cape Times yesterday about the day she first headed to the voting polls, still in disbelief that she could finally cast a vote.
“That day I woke at 4am as I couldn’t sleep due to the excitement I had. I heard my neighbours shouting sikhululekile, meaning ’we are free’. I walked to the voting station and couldn’t believe my eyes.
“The number of people that waited in the queue to cast their vote, I was really feeling overwhelmed and excited at the same time.
“I was happy that we were no longer oppressed, finally we were free. We would no longer carry passes. That day, I knew that our fight for freedom was not in vain,” she said.
However, Zicina said the freedom the country claimed to have today “is not freedom” with spiralling crime and unemployment rates.
“At the age of 68 years, I still don’t have my own house. What I’m still grateful for is the fact that we are able to travel anywhere in the country without being restricted due to the colour of our skin.
“What breaks my heart is that I have to pay rent of R1 200 a month even though I’m a pensioner, but I fought for freedom.
“Back in the old days, I used to get paid R15 a month after working so hard, as I was a domestic worker. Being free and South Africa being a democratic country helped our children, as they were able to attend multiracial schools and choose a career that they wanted,” she said.
For Riversdale pensioner Maria Moses, the day came with heartache.
The 86-year-old had gone out to the voting station at their local civic centre with her sister, a friend and their church leader.
“We left home early that morning. It was finally our chance to make a difference with our votes. My sister had even decided to wear a pair of red high-heeled shoes – which we realised were mismatched when we got home later that afternoon.
“I guess it was all the excitement. But we wanted to look smart for the very important event that was to change our future. We got to the civic centre and it was two snaking queues as people prepared to go into the centre,” Moses said.
The atmosphere was electric with anticipation and she remembered feeling a sense of hope for the future.
“We queued for hours on end but it was worth it. We had only been able to cast our vote by late that afternoon. People gathered on the stairs of the civic centre all day, singing and chanting. There was a hive of activity all day with so much going on. It was jovial, but an important event,” said Moses.
She also remembered the day as one of tragedy, because the family also received the news of Moses’s sister having been murdered that same day by her husband.
Asked about how she felt 27 years after casting that first vote, Moses said: “Has it been that long already? I can’t believe it. But honestly, I feel like much more can be changed. Empty promises are made every election year and the people are suffering. We suffered before, but now we, especially the elderly, are still suffering.
“I don’t feel the same excitement that I felt in 1994 any more. That feeling has dissipated over the years and I only do it now (vote) because I have to. They have to do more to look after the elderly of the country who fought along in the Struggle. Especially people in rural areas, we are the forgotten ones,” said Moses.
The pensioner, who survives on government grant, said it was hard to make ends meet.
“R1 800 isn’t much. After I buy my groceries, that money is up. I am currently having to make changes to my beneficiary details so as to not experience problems with my pay-out, but it is costing me to go to Mossel Bay home affairs to do so. Something I can ill afford,” said Moses.
At the national Freedom Day celebrations in Free State yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “We salute all the men and women of this great land whose sacrifices have made it possible for us to be free today.
“We salute today’s generation of men and women who have taken up the cause of freedom, equality, non-racialism, non-sexism and human rights for all.
“We have made great progress towards realising the rights of our people to a better life and in advancing human dignity. And yet, even as we have lived in a democratic country for the past 27 years, we know that across many parts of South Africa, the promise of 1994 has not yet been fulfilled. Millions of South Africans still live in conditions of poverty and deprivation.”
“The democratic breakthrough of 1994 liberated black South Africans from the tyranny of apartheid, but it also liberated white South Africans from the shackles of untruth and the false belief in racial superiority.
“This is because they chose the path of non-racialism, of reconciliation and of peace. After 27 years, we are still striving to be a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it – be they black or white, man or woman, rural dweller or urban dweller, able-bodied or living with disability, regardless of their beliefs, their language or their sexual orientation,” said Ramaphosa.
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