Innovative voters beat the heat and long queues during  Namibia’s presidential and National Assembly elections

Whether it’s arriving at the polling station with a friend, a book to pass the time, or making money, Namibians were keeping busy amid the slow pace of the voting process.

Penomahafo Petrus (18) says she decided to sell ice cream at the polling station at Kilimanjaro in the Tobias Hainyeko constituency in Windhoek, Katutura, yesterday to save up for her school supplies for next year.

Petrus, who is going to be in Grade 12 at Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School next year, kept her ice cream cold with ice.
“We don’t have electricity here, but I’m keeping the ice cream cold with the ice,” she says.

She sits underneath a tree near the polling station with a gray cooler box filled with bubblegum, strawberry and chocolate flavoured bars of ice cream.

“People are buying, my cooler box was full,” Petrus says as she points to the almost empty box.

Dressed in a yellow shirt and black pants, she has been at the polling station since 07h00, selling ice cream for N$7 and N$10 respectively.

Josephine Gaises (19) also had the idea to create an extra stream of income for herself during the school holidays at the John Pandeni constituency polling station.

“My mother told me she was tired of paying for my hair. And since I didn’t get a summer job, I decided to make some extra money,” she says.

Gaises says her home is directly opposite the polling station at Soweto Market, making it the perfect location for her to run home and restock her product.

Lazarus Afrikaaner says he brought frozen bottles of water from home to make sure he stayed hydrated.

“I’m happy I brought a frozen water to last me this long,” he says.

However, Johannes Tshivute says he had to go back home to get his water bottle and a hat because he thought he would be done earlier – he had been in the queue since 06h00.

“I thought this would be fast, but in Namibia, even voting is a slow process,” he says.

A group of voters outside of the polling station at John Pandeni constituency complained that they had to pay to make use of the toilet facilities at the polling station.

The group crouched underneath a single beach umbrella, saying they were disappointed with the facilities.

“We have to pay for toilets here. We have to stand in the sun. We want them to find better facilities next time.”

Meanwhile, at a polling station at Olympia, a group of friends were sitting on camping chairs playing a game of cards beneath the shade of an umbrella – a cooler box next to them.

Although from different areas of town, the common denominator is voters keeping themselves busy while waiting to exercise their democratic right.

Presiding officer Rudolf Muzengua says the polling officers had been working since the polling stations opened at 07h00.

“They take short breaks if they can, but they haven’t taken lunch because people are complaining a lot,” he says.