Chain shops are open for business, polling stations are empty

 

BUSINESS AS USUAL ... The Grove Mall in Windhoek's Kleine Kuppe suburb is packed with shoppers. The lines at parking ticket metres are much longer than the lines at the polls in Cimbebasia and Kleine Kuppe.

Shoprite workers at Rehoboth's mall said they were forced to work from 08h00 to 19h00 today.

They claim managers said today was a normal working day and blame the presidency for announcing Friday 27 November a public holiday, at the last minute.

Workers say they were only given an hour to go vote which they say is not enough due to the long queues at polling stations in the town early today.

Most South African chain shops such as Clicks, OK Furniture, Steers and some Chinese shops in the town are open for business.

Some Namibian-owned companies like MTC and some cafes did not open their doors today.

A manager at Shoprite/Checkers, Schalk Pienaar, based in Windhoek, said it is not true that workers are not allowed to take time off to vote because the company scheduled their times for each worker to be given a chance to vote.

He also said those who could not vote are those who were not registered in Rehoboth but elsewhere in other constituencies.

Most polling stations in Rehoboth were completely empty by 15h00 although there were long queues early in the day.
By 15h15 today 341 voters cast their vote at the Rehoboth Town Council polling station in the Rehoboth Urban West constituency.

Polling stations close at 21h00.

WAITING FOR VOTERS ... The polling station at Kleine Kuppe has no voters.