SA Rocks

The Concourt ruling came through today with a “go”. Voters can now submit their votes in the national election if they are living abroad.

From the DA:

Today, the Constitutional Court ruled ruled in favour of the DA’s court application that South Africans who are living temporarily abroad and who are registered as voters must be allowed to cast their vote in the upcoming elections.

The Constitutional Court also granted a new 15 day period for South Africans abroad to apply for a special vote overseas.

This 15 day period has begun and all South Africans who are registered to vote and who want to apply for a special vote must get their applications submitted to the IEC before 27 March 2009.

The DA encourages every South African who is living abroad and who is registered to vote to apply for a special vote so that you can have your say in the upcoming elections.

And News24:

Johannesburg – The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that registered voters living overseas can vote for the National Assembly in the April 22 elections.

They must notify the chief electoral officer of their intention to vote by March 27, the court ordered.

Handing down the first of two separate judgments Justice Kate O’Regan said the right to vote had a symbolic and democratic value.

However, the court did not support the move to allow registration abroad. Only registered voters abroad will be eligible to vote.

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This seems to be a trustworthy document that appears to be for South African’s wishing to vote abroad.

So what you’ll need to do is the following:

1. See if you qualify to vote abroad by visiting the IEC website.
To be eligible to vote there is one major prerequisite: You need to already be registered as a voter.

2. Download this form. <- click on the text to start download.

3. Fill in the form.

4. Send it off to the IEC BEFORE FEBRUARY 27th 2009 – THIS IS EXTREMELY NB. YOU HAVE 4 DAYS TO COMPLETE THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY.

5. You will then be eligible to vote at your nearest mission according to the IEC website. This, in my opinion, means your nearest embassy. But for more info about your nearest SA mission download THIS FORM <- click the link to download the list.

6. Vote on April 15th 2009.

I’m not particularly impressed with the deadlines put in place. Let’s hope this all works out for the best. If you are abroad and reading this please email these steps on to your friends, post the link to this post on your Facebook status, tweet these links and call someone to let them know. Just spread the word and be as proactive as possible.

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Have you noticed how many expat-Londoners are returning to SA recently? If you haven’t I think it’s time that I pointed it out.

It’s a strange anomaly I’ve begun to notice. The brain-drain scare has been around since ’94 in South Africa and rightfully so, people have been leaving.

I had noticed it over the past, say, six years. I left high school and a few mates left for “greener pastures”. I graduated from University and a few more left to travel the world, gain more skills, find something new and try out different places. Many left with a bitter taste in their mouths and many swore never to return. However many of them didn’t plan on the recession. Many didn’t plan on the UK working visa taking a turn away from South Africans and many simply realised that with all of our problems, South Africa is still their home and probably always will be.

I attended a pleasant little dinner part of Friday night. I was astounded to note that out of the eight people there I was the only one out of the group who hadn’t traveled to and lived in London. Even more exciting and intriguing was that all seven of the others had been to London, earned some money, saved, gained some extra skill sets and decided to return to SA over the past year or two.

Is this the great reversal of the brain drain? Is it possible that there are many, many more South Africans who are set to return in the very near future? I think it might be. I think there are many young South Africans realising that the earning potential for them if they return to our country is greatly improved now that the recession has hit, now that their visa’s have come to an end and now that families are beginning to buckle down here and stick it out.

The current political climate could also have a great affect on the decisions of returning South Africans. The fact that the ANC is being shaken up, that there are more options and that the political environment has become more competitive things are starting to look more interesting.

I have said this before and I will say it again, it is a very exciting time to be a young South African. Things are happening. We are beginning to realise that we have the potential to earn, to change, to fix, to heal and to make this nation the nation it has the potential to become.

To all the returning expats I say well done and welcome home. We hoped you’d come back.

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Last year I wrote a very heated and controversial post about an anti-crime march that was held in London. I was a bit confused about the action and that people abroad should come home and fight for their country.

This year on December 6th 2008 South Africans living in London will gather to march for their right to vote. This is something that I wholeheartedly support. I am extremely impressed by the initiative and if I was there, I would march too. Why the hell shouldn’t Saffas abroad be allowed to vote if they intend on returning to SA?

Have a look:

If you have family living abroad and are close to the march then get them there and support the cause. Why? Because it’s your right to vote.

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This is an extremely tricky and sensitive debate to have. I think that there are many heated opinions held by people who still feel strongly about their country of birth (South Africa). This feeling clearly leads them to feel some ownership of SA and the countries ruling party.

But I am not so sure.

I firmly believe that South Africans living abroad temporarily on short term (1-4 year) Visa’s – or whatever the time period is, should be allowed to vote. I firmly disagree with expats who have formally left the country indefinitely who want to vote. If you choose to leave a country and have no intention of contributing to the economy, the social upliftment, the every running of the nation then you unfortunately waver the right to vote.

Come back if you want to vote that badly. But don’t leave and then claim to still love the nation and want to make a difference. If you are on a gap year, if you are on a working visa, if you are on an extended holiday then by all means vote, in fact I think the government owes it to citizens who intend on returning to provide a platform (at SA embassies the world over) for these people to vote.

As far as I am aware there are ± 143 political parties which would make the next elections the biggest since 1994. There is something in the air this year, there is change in the people, the masses are taking back the ownership of their days. It started with Obama and hopefully wont end any time soon. Hopefully that dog, Mugabe will be the next to be ousted.

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For some reason this kept slipping my mind. But not today.

I have finally seen the SA Rocks dedicated page in SA Promo Magazine.

If you’ve never read SA Promo I think you should start. It’s a magazine for South Africans living all over the world but has useful and interesting information for South Africans all over.

I was asked to write something from SA Rocks for the magazine once a month. I jumped at the chance to take part in the project and hope that the great people over there let me continue to contribute to the magazine.

Have a look:

I have blogged about them before so read the post if you want a short bit of history.

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Ed’s note: This post is a contribution from a student at UKZN. They have taken on new media platforms and are trying to involve themselves in the sphere of online publishing. I thought I’d help out and have allowed them to send me through contributions. This is the first of hopefully many to come.

I know that I’m one of the many South Africans who finds it a challenge to be positive about my country. I have just disproved to myself that I am an uplifting person, because I have recently discovered how much easier it is for me to see the bad things than the good about South Africa…but that’s not what this site is about. So in changing my attitude I have been thinking of all the things that must be good enough about it to have made me miss home when I was in England for two years. Of course I love the people, and the typically South African foods, but mostly it’s the lifestyle that it just so amazing here. How sad that we only miss things when they are gone.

The first thing I appreciated when I arrived back home is how much space we have – instead of sharing a wall of your squashy semi-detached million pound double storey house with a family of 4, one of which is a screaming baby, we have large enough back yards for a jungle gym and a swimming pool!

Never have I realized how good we have it in terms of service here than when I had to fill up my own petrol tank in England, wash the windows myself, and attempt to locate and add water to the radiator before it overheated!

There is also no one to pack your shopping bags when you visit the supermarket, and everyone always seems to be in such a rush there, that it is rather stressful trying to unpack the groceries onto the conveyor belt, shove them into bags, haul them back into the trolley, and pay – all at the same time!

Only very wealthy people in the UK can afford someone to keep their houses clean and in order, and they have to mow their tiny little strip of grass that they consider a garden, themselves.

Most of all I love not having to wrap up in six layers just to keep myself from freezing! I do not handle the cold well…my mouth goes numb and I can’t talk properly, and my hands become so inept that I cant even sms! Plus, everyone there never stops talking about the weather. Strangers talk to you about how cold or mild or rainy it is – or is going to be, as do your close friends. Its not just small talk there, it’s like the most popular subject! All you need here in Winter is a warm jacket… I came back home after two UK Winters, laden with a beautiful variety of scarves, beanies and gloves…none of which have been used since!

Just last week I was reminded of another thing I love… chocolate marshmallow Easter eggs! It’s the small things you miss – my one expat friend wrote to me about how she missed the Hadedas (madness!) and the bubbly domestic workers shouting to each other from across the street! England may have Easter eggs in every flavour of chocolate bar available, but they don’t have the marshmallow ones like SA does! In fact I keep hearing how good chocolate is for ones health, and how it releases endorphins…maybe a box a day of those will keep me in high spirits when I begin taking a turn towards the negative side again! Instead of getting fat on Starbucks and pub food, I can sit at the pool and catch a tan with a box of melting marshmallow Easter eggs and read the newspaper on a sugar high so I won’t get depressed!

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I like projects like SA Promo. I like them because I believe that alot of people who leave SA are either coming back at some point or didn’t want to leave in the first place.

In this way SA Promo provides South Africans with an entry point in to the country they have left for whatever reason and I am fond of this. I am not in the business of calling for punishment for departure or abandonment. I simply believe that some people need to leave SA as much as some need to stay.

Whether I like to admit it or not, I think that everyone has an underlying passion for SA. Whether it is a passion that turns into a hatred or a success and love, either way it’s a passion.

Some explanation of SA Promo Magazine by SA Promo:

SA PROMO Magazine is a South African magazine brought to you by South Africans abroad for South Africans abroad.

South Africans in America, Amsterdam, Asia, Australia, Bangkok, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada, Cyprus, Dubai, Dublin, Egypt, Europe, Finland, Florida, Fort Lordedale, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Mauritius, Miami, Middle East, Netherlands, New York, New Zealand, NZ, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Sydney, Taiwan, Texas, Thailand, Toronto, Turkey, UK, USA, Vietnam…

With millions of South Africans living Abroad, SA PROMO recognised the need for a medium to network these communities and allow them to communicate with each other in printed and online new media mediums.

Paging through the latest edition, number 9 I think, I noticed a great feature about SA bloggers around the world. This edition featured a blogger in Canada and Thailand.

I think that this magazine can only grow and prove to be a success amongst expats around the world. Hell, I love it and I am still in SA!

Keep up the great work and get reading now.

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