My recent DA blog post sparked some very interesting, strange and debatable points. The one that intrigues me the most right now (and probably for the next 6 months) is voter education. Below is a comment I published as a response to someone asking me to “convince them to vote”. Firstly I am really shocked and surprised that I need to convince anyone to vote, but this is my response however rushed and off the top of my head:
Basically, you can tell me that the parties are all failures, all liars, all cheats, bigots or whatever you think but at the end of the day they aren’t all like that. They do some very promising work and actually do (alot of the time) try to better the public. You can moan and tell me that your area has had a pothole for two weeks, yes but so have many others.
The reason that you should vote is very simple: Democracy is based on a voting system. If you do not vote then you are allowing a party in to government that actually isn’t representative of the people, but rather a small faction of the people. Our democracy would be in a much better working order – especially with a proportional representation system – if more people voted, votes were fought for and people held their governments and political parties to task with their vote. But right now the parties know that all they need is roughly 8million votes to win an election. It’s apathetic voters that allow parties and politicians to get away with murder.
Imagine if the ANC completely lost the next elections because the people weren’t happy with their outcomes. That would send a message to every party out there that South Africans want results. But in fact, the message we send is: “Ah, you know, you screwed up but I don’t really care enough to tell you with my vote and help educate others to vote so you can take power again and carry on in the same way.”
Voting matters. You can deny it until you die but the fact is that voting matters.
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Popularity: 6% [?]
October 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Nick, thanks for the reply and the advise.
Yes, I did vote in all previous elections
May I just disect a part of your reply which read ‘You can moan and tell me that your area has had a pothole for two weeks, yes but so have many others.’ That precisely is my point! So because other areas have issues which are not dealt with, you should just accept that your area also has issues, so just live with it.
By the way, when residents of our suburb complained to our local councillor about a cycle lane that was being used by taxis, we were told to wait until March 2010 when it would be sorted out!
Nick, bear with me. I am not only a voter I AM A TAXPAYER AND RATES PAYER AS WELL. If I vote now and continue to get poor service delivery, do I wait another 4 years to vote in the hope that their will be an improvement?
Nick, as a voter and taxpayer, I want results, not election promises, that is my point. I, like every other South African voter, want tangibles, not lip service. My departure point on this is…am I guarenteed I will get this. Yes or No.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
ST – I think that what you are looking for is unrealistic. No offence intended here but you are one man, one person within a democracy consisting of over 40 million.
You cannot ask/request/expect to have all of your wants and needs responded to. That is just not going to happen. If that is what you expect you are setting yourself up for disappointment every time.
October 29th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Nic – thanks for your thoughts.
I would like to end this debate by saying that in future I will not have unrealistic expectations. I will not contact my councillor anymore about my wants and needs as I am only 1 person in 40 million. But I will continue to give a large sum of my income in taxes and rates. But I should not expect much in return. And I will continue to vote so that I can make a difference.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
ST – you know that’s not at all what I meant.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Quick question (excuse my ingnorance) – Are South Africans living overseas allowed to vote?
November 1st, 2008 at 2:15 am
In answer to LS – only if you happen to be overseas on voting day on a short term trip like a holiday. If you are living abroad (e.g. on a 4-year ancestry visa or a sponsored work visa) then no. Criminals sitting in prison for murder and rape can vote to their heart’s content, but someone like me with vested interests like property in SA, a pension fund, investments and most of my family there, can’t. When people living in SA say they can’t be bothered to vote I want to slap them!!
November 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I would, but no one represents me. Should i vote for the sake of it?
If anything i would vote for the COP – just to add to their numbers to encourage them to be strong and keep going.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
gmk – in my opinion right now with the political situation as it is, i would say yes, you should vote for the sake of it, if you don’t in some way or another your absence provides the ruling and dominating party with a safety vote!
November 7th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Me – I’m an apathetic citizen- haven’t voted in the last two elections and don’t get particularly excited about elections. I think a big part of it though has been the lack of an opposition.
I don’t see the DA as opposition. Seeing the split in the ANC has been exciting – suddenly our minority vote can and does count…
Reading the comment about the councillor above. In defence of my local councillor – he’s been brilliant – the one time I’ve needed him (a big dispute with City Power) and he got the problem sorted and kept in contact to resolve the issue.
There’s plenty of poor politicians out there but let’s not tar them all with the same brush….
November 8th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hi Nic,
What is happening, can expats vote in the 2009 elections? Maybe you can mail me and we should do an article or blog on this topic in SA PROMO magazine as South Africans wants to vote.
November 9th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
If I’m currently on a 12 month contract overseas and not allowed to vote, how can this election be call FREE AND FAIR.
that is complete BS, i am a tax paying citizen of the country, but am not allowed to vote, what utter rubbish.
Shame on the IEC to allow the ruling government to dictate to them what is FREE AND FAIR.
Every American was allowed to vote, inside or outside of there country.
I am not a criminal sitting in jail, they gave up there right to anything when they commited there crime, yet they vote.
I want to vote, I have always voted.
April 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Im not voting, there simply isnt a party that represents my views. It seems to be an anti-zuma vs pro-zuma election, personally I dont know the guy.