Ohlange old girls trek from Joburg to KZN to cast their vote

08 May 2019 - 17:59
By LWANDILE BHENGU
Ohlange High School old girls, Isabel Zikalala, Busi Mashiyane-Zuma and Jabu Sibeko and  who are from Johannesburg, came to KwaZulu-Natal to celebrate a double birthday and vote at their alma mater
Image: Jackie Clausen Ohlange High School old girls, Isabel Zikalala, Busi Mashiyane-Zuma and Jabu Sibeko and who are from Johannesburg, came to KwaZulu-Natal to celebrate a double birthday and vote at their alma mater

For Busi Mashiyane-Zuma, Jabu Sibeko and Isabel Zikalala, Ohlange High School, in KwaZulu-Natal, is more then just the place Nelson Mandela cast his first vote in 1994, it is where their friendship was formed.

The trio, who are originally from Gauteng, boarded at the school in the 80s. Forty years after completing school, the trio went back to the school to cast their vote in the 2019 national elections.

"We decided to come vote here so we could remember our youth," Zikalala said.

The long-time friends planned the trip to Durban to vote and also to celebrate Zikalala and Mashiyane-Zuma's 58th birthdays when the "stars aligned in their favour".

"When the president announced when the elections would be (around the time of our trip) we knew we had to come back and vote where it all began," said Zikalala.

The gang said they felt nostalgic walking through the corridors that shaped their future.

"I literally felt goosebumps walking through our old school I don't even have enough words for how it felt," she said.