A binding social contract

Your vote on May 8 is a binding social contract between yourself as the voter and the political party of your choice. It is your voice of consent to be governed by that political party for five years.

With it you say to your political party, in the event that you win, whatever you do, you do in my name; use state resources prudently to advance the wellbeing and the interests of the people of SA. With it you say, I have verified that you as my political choice have the right economic policies to grow this modern and complex economy.

With your vote you say to your political party (and to yourself): I now know that you have the right calibre of leaders who are not thieves. The leaders you have, have the right set of skills, experience, temperament and emotional intelligence to carry the dreams and aspirations of this diverse nation, one whose history before 1994 has a heavy bearing on the present economic power structure.

You say, these are leaders who understand that for the state to be efficient it needs to employ the best technocrats available, even if they are not politically (or factionally) aligned.

After May 8, whoever wins, as a citizen brace yourself for a new responsibility — that of continuous critical appraisal of the governing party, yours or not. The price of democracy is eternal vigilance: that is what you signed up for when you chose a liberal constitutional democracy.

Lucky Mngomezulu, Richards Bay