You only count if you’re on the roll

Town.

HERE is nothing more untrue about

South Africa in 2016 than the often-heard

complaint that people – we – are power-

less. Life is difficult for many, particularly

those who don’t have the resources to make the

daily choices that might otherwise give them a real

sense of being in charge of their fate.

The same may well be true of many, well-off or

not, who feel neutered by economic or political deci-

sions that limit the scope for their living lives of

their choosing.

But the great leveller of democratic South Africa

is the equivalence of power available to every citi-

zen, student, wealthy company owner, jobless wage-

earner, union member, professional or artisan.

Whatever you might think of apartheid, the

Struggle, the political settlement of 1994, the senti-

ments of Nelson Mandela or the vagaries of politics

in 2016, South Africa is a robust constitutional state

that rests on the simple principle that everyone has

an equal say in directing the destiny of the country.

The protests, the petitions, the lobbying, all these

pale into insignificance against the power of the

ballot. That’s the most meaningful, potential game-

changer, particularly in the light of this year’s local

government elections.

We are not, then, a powerless nation – but we are

powerful only if we are willing to use the vote and

are eligible to do so.

It goes without saying we urge all South Africans

to use this weekend’s two-day opportunity to make

sure they are registered and are thus able to partici-

pate in directing the country’s future, and their

The critical category is the at least nine million

people – 64 percent, or 5.9 million, of whom are be-

tween 20 and 40 – who the Independent Electoral

Commission estimates are eligible to vote, but are

not registered. And, quite simply, they won’t count

if they aren’t.