Voting a victory for SA’s electorate

ELECTIONS are a birthright in every democracy. They make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance. Elections also reinforce the stability and legitimacy of the political community. We exercised that right when we voted in the sixth local government elections on Monday.

Voting gives people an opportunity to have their say and, through expressing partisanship, satisfy their need to feel a sense of belonging. Even non-voting satisfies the need of some people to express their alienation from the political community.

Holding regular and periodic elections is a sign of political maturity – a maturity displayed since our democratic general elections in 1994.

On that historic day of April 27, 1994, South Africans showed the world it was ready to be counted among the civilised democratic countries in the world.

The year 1994 ushered a new political order in the country, and every five years thereafter the citizens of South Africa were able to elect their leaders in a free, fair and democratic order.

On April 27, 1994, voters stood for hours in long queues often stretching over a kilometre long to vote in South Africa’s first democratic election.

Hopes ran high and fears ran deep in the run-up to the election. For Africans, this was their first chance to vote in a national election, and the majority were determined to cast their vote.

A sense of euphoria gripped voters from all races, especially those opposed to apartheid. The election, which took place over a few days, was peaceful.

On Monday, South Africans of all walks of life displayed their political patriotism and dared the pandemic, associated logistical issues, rampant corruption among government officials, erratic weather conditions, and the spectre of load shedding to exercise their democratic right.

While the aim of an election is to choose those who should lead us, they also enable voters to select leaders and to hold them accountable for their performance in office.

The exercise of the right to vote does not end on the day of an election, but is the beginning of the planting of a seed that is expected to bear fruits.

Those fruits are in the form of delivery of services – bringing clean water and sanitation to the communities, providing reliable electricity and public transport to even far-flung areas, provision of schools, tarred roads, safety and security.

In an election it should not be parties that win, but the electorate.

The success of an election should be measured by the prompt delivery of basic, consistent and quality services.

Mbatha is news editor.