Casting a vote is just the start

Dear reader, brace yourself. Over the next few months, you will be courted like never before. Now that we all know the election date, political parties will begin to pull out all the stops to secure your precious vote.

And, after 29 May, they will cast you aside and forget about you for five years.

No matter which party you vote for.

I know it sounds cynical but at my age, I have seen the extremely temporarily nature of a voter’s usefulness over and over.

In our country it’s worse, because government has become rotten to the core. On all levels.

The say that a fish rots from the head. It’s not true. A fish rots throughout.

I know our mayors don’t wear chains anymore. They should. As should our MECs and MPs and Cabinet ministers.

Our country has become a pit of corruption and many of us have – perhaps unrealistically so – an expectation that May’s general elections can change things.

For the first time in 30 years, we may see the ruling party – and ironic title, because they don’t rule at all – mustering not less than 50% of the votes, but possibly even less than 40%.

Coalition politics is waiting – there can be very little doubt. Be prepared for government on both provincial and national level by uncomfortable bedmates.

Which would be a soapy of note, if our interests weren’t at stake.

Who will pool their votes just to get the power? The ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA)? The ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)? The DA, EFF and uMkhonto weSizwe party?

No matter how the dice falls, it’s bound to result in separate parties who watch every move the other makes. And service delivery will be left behind.

Dear reader, don’t believe any of the promises you hear until May.

The elections won’t be the event that changes our country. It may only be the inspiration for change.

But it won’t be politicians who bring the change, no matter how many babies get kissed. It will have to be us.

We will have to insist on that what we need. We will have to pressure government to look after the citizens – it shouldn’t work the other way around.

The road to recovery is a long one. The 29th of May is not the destination – it’s the beginning. And we’ll all have to contribute.