President Cyril Ramaphosa cast his vote at 10 o’clock in the morning at Hitekani Primary School, where he grew up. The president was accompanied by his wife.

In the 2019 national elections, Ramaphosa was welcomed by protests from people in Chiawelo who were unhappy about the lack of service delivery. Nhlanhla Lux, leader of the Soweto Parliament, says “there’s levels of government; it’s unfair for anyone to ask the President to be held accountable for municipal issues, where municipalities are coalition-led. The City of Johannesburg is coalition-led.

Nhlanhla adds that if there’s a problem with housing and people protest to the president and housing is not under the ANC, it’s unfair. We need to be practical and realistic about what we want as people. Lux says that he’s happy with the president’s performance and what he has done nationally for this country. We came from COVID-19, which was a serious global disaster; the country pulled through; we are here; and the economy is back on its feet. That’s what we should be holding the president accountable for.

A young woman from Chiawelo says, “I’m expecting change; we’ve been preaching real change; we have unemployment and a lot of challenges.” The young community member remembers the promises that were made by the president in 2019, and she says nothing has changed since 2019.

The Guardian Report took to the streets of Chiawelo, and we saw countless potholes. The only street that was fixed was the street where Cyril Ramaphosa’s family home is located, and that street didn’t have potholes.