Hundreds of voters arrived at the polls to cast their vote in the Ward 110 By-Elections today (Wednesday). The ward had no councillor since Pete Graham resigned last November to join ActionSA. Ward 110 has six voting stations which is made up of Sunningdale, Glen Hills, Glen Anil, Mount Moriah and Avoca Hills.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) said it was confident that it will win the Sunningdale and Rinaldo Park voting districts whilst the African National Congress (ANC) said it was confident people will cast their vote for the party in four voting districts which are in Mount Moriah, the Cricket Action Ground and Avoca Hills.
Speaking to the Durban North News, DA Provincial leader, Francois Rodgers visited two voting districts (Rinaldo Park and Sunningdale Park). He said the party is hoping to get more votes in order to continue serving the area with “service delivery that residents deserve”.
“Our greatest passion is to see change that will make a difference in the people’s lives such as service delivery. The DA calls on residents to come out in their numbers and keep the ward under the clean and proficient government of the DA,” said Rodgers.
Mdu Nkosi, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) spokesperson for eThekwini, who was present at the Rinaldo Park voting station said: “We are well aware that the ward is headed by the DA but our vision is to see our party growing in the area. This will be an indication that will show where we are heading as the IFP, since we are preparing for the Local Government Elections in October. Since the morning we have seen signs that we are growing, by seeing a few people who reside in the surrounding areas of Durban North that are in favour of the IFP,” said Nkosi.
A Durban North resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “I hope that there can be a lot of things that can be rectified such as the over-growing grass in parks that has not been attended to and the potholes on our roads. The entrance to this voting station (Rinaldo Park) is a shame, it takes the city months to fill it up with sand. The dump site is also a problem that residents face. People who are residing in the Malacca Informal Settlement are also causing a huge problem because they are not allowed to live there. I hope that the new councillor will be able to remove them. We are also experiencing a high crime rate in the area, which we hope will be dealt with as soon as possible,” he said.
Mount Moriah resident Ntokozo Mthembu, said she will be casting her vote to see a difference in terms of service delivery which has been neglected for some time. “I am happy to be here today. I hope that our new councillor will do the job. We have been struggling to get service delivery in this ward and we hope by availing ourselves to vote, things will be different,” she said. Her friend, Senzi Makhanya, said: “I will be voting because I want to see change.”
