IEC lauded for smooth election abroad after thousands voted at the weekend

LONDON - With nine days left before South Africans living in the country soil head to the elections, the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) was lauded for a smooth election abroad.

Thousands of South Africans travelled far and wide to cast their ballots at one of the 111 foreign missions this weekend.

The largest foreign voting station, South African House in London's Trafalgar Square, saw nearly 9,000 votes by the end of Saturday.

Voting abroad for 24,000 registered South Africans in the United Kingdom closed at 9 o'clock on Sunday night.

Some wearing Springbok jerseys, others red Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) berets waited for at least three hours in the voter's queue.

Here’s what some of them had to say.

“We need to fix the country. We need to get out of the poverty that we're in. We need to make South Africa great again,” said one voter.

“We shouldn’t be water shedding and load shedding. We shouldn’t be having the high crime rates. It breaks my heart that a five-year-old baby was killed just this week in a hijacking incident,” lamented another.

“[Voting] is important because it’s my country and I would like to see it improve from what’s going on, so I want to play a small part and hopefully make a difference,” another said.

“If the ANC [African National Congress] survives these elections, South Africa won’t. So, that’s why everyone is out here to make sure that we make a change,” echoed another.