Casting my vote for a ‘passionate’ leader

I remember standing at the bottom of Callaway Street opposite Jubilee Hall waiting for the motorcade transporting Botha Sigcau’s body.

It passed in front of me, I saw the casket through the glass in the car it was in.

When there was a blackout in Mthatha, I heard the name Bathandwa Ndondo being mentioned a lot.

Subsequent to that, there was a curfew, but as a prolific Ballroom and Latin American dancer at the Peter Ntwana Dance Studio, we were exempt from the curfew for our late practices and competitions.

In 1989, I was part of a group of medical students who were arrested while marching from medical school to Howard College, We Natal’university. didn t make it far up Francois Road. We were taken to CR Swarts police station.

Our vice-chancellor bailed us out the following morning.

Umbilo Road medical school was a hive of political activity. There was a time we were addressed by Harry Gwala, I witnessed the firebrand live.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-zuma could be seen walking from the Medical Research Centre to Willobees to get some food.

In 1993, we learnt of killings in North Crest, Mthatha, that took the lives of five children.

I won’t go into detail about what the apartheid government said was the reason for the raid.

April 27 1994, my choice on the ballot paper was easy. In the lead up to the elections Eugene Nyathi was the TV analyst.

I recall him saying it’ll take 10 years for SA citizens to stop voting with sentiment.

For me, it took only five years because I split my vote in 1999 between the pipe-smoking, size 7 wearing president and the general (Bantu Holomisa).

I did not agree with Madiba expelling him from the ruling party for telling the truth about Stella Sigcau.

I knew all about the “sweets” Sol Kerzner dolled out.

What happened to the Mthatha area after that is known, and the most revered president of the ruling party was at the helm. The region still hasn’t recovered from that.

Thirty years since the first democratic elections was celebrated, we are now being reminded about who liberated us even though it’s been that long since the first election.

What is being forgotten is:

● Arms deal;

● Travelgate;

● Sarafina;

● Loadshedding;

● Nkandla;

● State capture;

● Crime;

● Unemployment;

● Digital Vibes; and

● PPI fraud. The above examples are just the tip of the iceberg, and many other egregious assaults to this democracy have been committed before our eyes by the incumbent government.

My vote has been available all these years. Since 1999, I’ve not given it away.

The official opposition, currently lampooned as serial Sunday Times Mampara of the Week, seems uninterested in representing the whole electorate.

In March 2015, I was in parliament listening to “nine wasted years” president Jacob Zuma’s Q&A on the “pay back the money” campaign that was championed by the red berets.

Unfortunately, over the years they have gravitated towards the people aligned to the “nine wasted years” president and his shenanigans.

Now that Rise Mzansi has been born, their message resonates with me.

I can see that they are a movement with the communities centred in their approach.

I’d be remiss if I did not mention that their national leader is a friend of mine.

I have had numerous conversations with him over the years about all sorts of topics.

He is brilliant, measured, passionate and driven.

He welcomes dissenting argument and is fair.

That is why it’s been easy for me to go on an active campaign for him, albeit without being asked. With a decent number of MPS in parliament, Rise Mzansi will make a difference.

Since 1999, my voting station became NG Kerk Bluewater Bay, Gqeberha, but I haven’t voted since leaving SA in 2002.

This will be my first year voting as an expat because I believe that Songezo Zibi and Rise Mzansi will represent SA’S interests.

I’m now registered at SA House, Trafalgar Square, London, and I will travel there from Manchester on May 18 (Foreign Missions 17/ 18/ 19) to cast my vote for Rise Mzansi.

In March 2015, I was in parliament listening to the ‘nine wasted years’ president’s Q&A on pay back the money which was championed by the red berets