Election promises interesting choices

Last week saw the first round of politicians canvassing for support ahead of the 2019 general elections.

This will be the sixth time South Africans will be voting to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures since 1994 heralded the end of the apartheid era.

For this reason, the majority of the voting population should now be well familiar with the process.

They should also be far more astute in terms of their vote, since 1994 was more of a heady, emotional celebration rather than a calculated exercise of decision-making.

The first democratic election was an optimistic, forwardlooking step towards where we wanted to be today in terms of the ‘new South Africa’.

This time, we look both forward and backwards to evaluate which way we should cast our vote: what has worked and what hasn’t; what will work and what won’t?

The political scenario has changed radically since 1994 – in fact, since 2017!

However, one constant is that the Independent

Electoral Commission has an unblemished record and will again be in full control of the voting process.

Some other essentials remain, the first of which is for each person to ensure he or she is properly registered to vote. This applies particularly to young, first time voters.

Despite the vigorous voting drives by promise-filled politicians, voter registration has nothing to do with political party affiliation.

One may register without taking membership of a party; it is our constitutional right to keep our potential vote a secret.

Some may even choose, ultimately, not to vote – but this negates the hard-fought battle for universal suffrage.

To have the right to vote, but not exercise that vote, is a lesson in futility, and any person who does that should not have the audacity to complain about governments.

There is plenty of time ahead until the general election, time that should be used wisely in studying all the options, and then voting independently, with the head rather than the heart.