• Nontsikelelo Yiba, 87, voted in Khayelitsha after being told she could lose her pension grant if she did not cast her ballot.

• Kholeka Mgwele, 76, wants bigger pension grants and jobs for young people, but worries that openly discussing political choices causes conflict.

Two elderly women in Khayelitsha went to vote on Wednesday because they feared losing the pension grants that help their families survive.

Nontsikelelo Yiba, 87, and Kholeka Mgwele, 76, cast their ballots at Luhlaza High School in Cape Town, where voting was quiet.

Both women said they had heard that their grants would stop if they did not vote.

There is no rule linking pension grants to voting. South Africans do not have to vote to keep their social grants.

But Nontsikelelo believed the warning and decided she could not take the risk.

She had not planned to vote until someone told her that staying away could cost her the money she depends on.

“I cannot afford to lose my grant because our children are not working; we are using the same money to take care of them. When we took them to school, we wanted them to take care of us, but they are not working and there are no jobs,” she said.

Nontsikelelo said her pension supports more than just herself because her children are unemployed.

She had hoped they would find jobs after finishing school and be able to support her in her old age.

Instead, the family still depends on her grant.

Now that she has voted, she hopes the government will increase the pension.

“Now that I have voted, I hope that they will increase it to R3000. I am old and believe it is my last time getting the chance to vote,” she said.

Kholeka also said she voted partly because she feared losing her pension.

But she wants more than to keep receiving her grant.

She hopes the election will bring change for families who are struggling to make ends meet.

“Besides voting to save my pension, I want change. The grant money we are receiving doesn’t cover our bills, it gets finished without covering everything we want,” she said.

Kholeka also believes voting has changed since she first started taking part in elections.

She said people now openly discuss which political parties they support, something she believes has caused divisions in communities.

“A vote used to be a secret, but not anymore, and that has made voting boring. Now we go to voting stations with people who announce the parties they will vote for openly, and I think that’s another reason we have so many political killings,” she said.

Kholeka believes keeping political choices private could help reduce arguments and fights between neighbours.

“In our areas, we are enemies because people don’t hide their votes; others go as far as fighting. But I still do things the old way, no one knows my vote. I still believe it is my secret,” she said.

Both women are also worried about their unemployed children, some of whom have diplomas and degrees but remain at home without jobs.

They hope the election will bring opportunities for young people and improve the lives of families who depend on pension grants.

For Nontsikelelo and Kholeka, voting was driven by a mixture of fear and hope.

They want to keep the money their families rely on, but they also want a future where their children can find work and support themselves.