Not this time...
Today my beautiful country will go an vote in the general election. I won’t. I could if I really wanted to but I decided not to vote. Why? Well, two reasons really.
Firstly, I don’t believe that South African living abroad should vote. WTF? Yes, you heard me right. I don’t think they should allow me and the others outside South Africa to vote. And no, it’s not because so many South Africans abroad moan and bitches so much about South Africa. It’s a fair point though… Why should you vote if all you want is the “good old days” of Apartheid and/or have nothing good to say about the “new” South Africa? But hell, everyone should be allowed their opinion so I won’t hold it against them or withhold their right to vote. For me it is a simple matter of economics.
We are not a rich country by any stretch of the imagination. Somewhere in the middle. Not Gabon but not Luxembourg either. I just see every single Rand (or Dollar) being spend on having someone vote in a foreign outpost in Vietnam or somewhere as a waste. That money could provide drugs for someone dying of Aids. Or maybe help put another cop on the street to stop the rape. Or feed a hungry street kid. Why should the money go to a few South Africans who could “afford” to go overseas? And if you do it for one person in one country then you have to do it for all of them in every single country. You can’t just pick the UK and the US because there are so many South Africans there. Nope – that would be discriminating against the minority hanging out in Venezuela or Fiji somewhere. You know how much money is going to be wasted giving those 16,000 odd people the chance to vote? Yes, that is how many South African abroad registered to vote. Millions of Rands going to a few…
And don’t give me that crap about the government wasting money on other things like the stupid arms deal or some big fancy party. Remember what your mother used to say? “Are you going to jump in the fire if they do?” Two wrongs don’t make a right. And two stupid actions don’t make either of them right. They are wrong and so are you. At least stop moaning about their waste if you do go and vote or fought for your right to vote in a foreign country. You are part of the waste cycle now. I hope you are proud.
Talking about the South African government…
My second reason…
I have been an ANC supporter for most of my life. Proudly so. And that is why I can’t go and vote this time. I have always voted for them but no more…
I don’t like Zuma. He is a bad reflection on the “struggle”. I remember listening to him at a COSATU conference many years back. Man… Man, man, man. I looked at my “comrades” and we just shook our heads. He was one stupid dude. Sorry to say it but that was what we thought back then and we said it out loud. And I am ashamed that my same COSATU buddies are supporting him. A snake oil seller. You’ve been duped brothers and sisters. Hum… I mean comrades.
I know the ANC is never about a single leader. It has always been about the movement. The movement to bring an end to Apartheid and give every South African the same rights. But leaders do play a role. They lead our people. Zuma? How can he lead us? He is a populist who showed his ignorance during the rape case against him. Yes he got away with that one. And even if he is innocent – tell me how can we make someone our President who thinks that washing yourself afterwards will stop the spread of Aids? Oh, he didn’t deny sleeping with the young girl who was a family friend. He just said it was a “mutual thing”. Real proud guys. Real proud…
And maybe he got a “get out of jail card” with the corruption charges. Maybe he didn’t take any money. Maybe Mbeki planned it all. So what? Being innocent doesn’t make him a leader. It just makes him innocent. Zuma is no leader. Not a leader to be proud of. Not a leader who can really carry the hope of our young nation on his shoulders.
So that’s why I don’t want to vote. I am an ANC man through and through. The DA is a bunch of weaklings that reminds me of those yapping little dogs. Lots of noise but you know they don’t have any substance. I’ve had the “pleasure” to work with a few of them and boy… Let me tell you… They are lightweight and “skelm“. (Skelm – not to be trusted, devious.) I don’t trust them as far as what I can throw a rock at them.
It leaves me with very few choices. The PAC doesn’t mean anything anymore. A leadership vacuum that slurps up the dirt left behind. Patricia could do it but she is a one-woman show. UDM… Bantu… Puh-leeze. An ex-General from the homelands? Get real! COPE? Maybe. Just maybe. I like Terror. He’s a good one. But I don’t know enough about them right now. They are still young. Hopefully the true soul of the ANC. Hopefully the new ANC going back to our roots. But it’s too early to tell. For now I must sit on the sidelines and watch my once proud movement slowly kill itself. Falling off the moral high ground. And it’s a long way down.
I love my country. I loved the ANC (and maybe one day we can meet up again.) But not Zuma. Not for me. Not for my country. Not now. Not ever.
No more “Long Live the ANC! ” or “Viva ANC!” or “Amandla ANC!” for me. I’ll sit and watch and see if the soul is still there. I don’t see it from over here. But you never know. You just never know. We always said that the struggle was bigger than one person. Let’s see if the ANC still believes in that. I’ll be waiting…
April 22, 2009 at 4:33 am
Hi. Liked this one as well, and enjoy learning more about South Africa, through your eyes.
I do not know much of South African politics (though, I am following a bit), but I agree that Zuma guy looks does not seem like that should lead any country, and certainly not a fantastic country, what South Africa is.
Greetings and all the best,
Kacoer
April 22, 2009 at 5:32 am
Hey, boet! Been hoping you’d throw in your two bob’s worth on the election. I’ve got a “wait and see” attitude about it, too, but so far I am not feeling all that optimistic. From afar, of course.
April 22, 2009 at 5:33 am
So you’re not voting in the US because you can’t and you’re not voting in SA because of above explanation? So do you ever vote, or do you let your leaders boss you around…?
I vote for 3 different parliaments. Israel, Sweden and the EU. But Israel does not allow it’s citizens abroad to vote (except diplomats) so my israeli brother in law who lives in Sweden can’t vote anywhere
April 22, 2009 at 5:34 am
I don’t vote. It only encourages the bastards.
April 22, 2009 at 7:07 am
I have to say, I completely disagree with your argument of why the South African population overseas is not allowed to vote.
There are a large number of South Africans overseas taking full advantage of global opportunities, and pouring the financial earnings and the global learnings back into our country. And you suggest we write these people off from having a fair say of who runs this country? Even if they are working right next door to a South African consulate/ embassy?
It is not a case of one guy having to take a ballot off to the furthest South African in Figi’s rural jungles? There is a balance of this foreign vote… that where there is an embassy/ consulate, there is (was) an opportuity to vote. Of course it has financial implications, but hardly requires a significant degree of the budget to ensure a few thousand South Africans vote.
What of the guy who went to study somewhere, or to try out some of his/ her skills somewhere, followed love, had a desire to travel? but will be back within a few months or during the 5-year period that the vote speaks to? These are people who hold SA citizenship and so our constitution states as one of their fundamental rights as a SA citizen is to vote.
In terms of ARVs, the fight could be broken down to the activists demanding that the government stop only being guided by the financial implications, but by its people’s rights. The activists argued that the money could be found. Same goes for voting, fincial implications are not what should be the guide, but the championing and protection of a PRIMARY right!
Financially… South Africa is middle-income. Our current state believes we are more than able to stretch our budget over many issues – 2010, Gautrain, domestic development (IDC), peace negotiatons of other countries, etc etc etc. all while people continue to not have houses/ schools/ food, but that you build everything up together, not one piece at a time.
And the IEC budget was not otherwise intended for ARVs or RDP houses. It is not taking away social services by affording as many South Africans the opportunity to vote.
We also receive millions of dollars from USAID, DFID, the Global Fund for such social service issues, and we could probably squeak more out of them IF our IEC budget was actually weighed up against social services. And one reason why… because these western countries laud voting as one of the most important exercises of democracy. As do so many South Africans… as much as we laud Freedom… which includes the freedom to travel globally, to work globally, to study globally.
It will be a very sad day should this country write off a citizen just because he/ she travelled across its borders. Or because it “will cost too much”.
April 22, 2009 at 8:00 am
@Kacper – Yep… No one deserves him. Especially not my beautiful country.
@Toaf – Hey boet! How are you and the missus doing? I just hope the ANC remembers its roots…
@thatdudeyouknow – I’ve (almost) always voted. But this time I don’t have a party to vote for. If I did vote I would have made sure to spoil my vote. I don’t think there is a party representing the interest of “the people” and find it difficult to turn my back on the ANC. It was a tough decision as I always encourage people to take ownership of politics and to go and vote. But I saw no option for me in this one.
@Champagne Heathen – A-ha! So we don’t always agree! It’s a tough one but I don’t know if 16,000 people who bothered to register overseas is worth the money in this economic climate or for a country who struggle to pay for everything we need to be done. Not with over a million still living in shacks. But I get your point of the importance of at least the message it sends from a democracy point of view.
April 22, 2009 at 9:03 am
I like you have the option to vote but chose not to, I can’t cast my vote for a party I have no faith in no matter what people say… that whole your one vote could make a difference, sure it can but where?
I know I’m negative but I fear that I will cry when the outcome is released… cry for the people I have left behind but will always be in my heart, I managed to get out but they will go through the pain.
Dis moeilik om te verduidelik wat is in die hart en siel sonder om ‘n boek te skryf.
What ever happens, the people are resiliant and will pull through, I’ll always believe that.
April 22, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I just hope the ANC remembers its roots…
I think many are feeling the same way. From what I have heard, the ANC’s roots certainly remember the ANC and the promise it embodied. And since the removal of Mbeki, many ANC supporters at the grass roots still believe that they have a say in the ANC’s direction. I only hope they haven’t misinterpreted the Mbeki departure.
April 23, 2009 at 2:02 am
I know, I had a good chuckle at our divergent views.
To pick up on another thread that’s going…. more and more people are starting to say that there should be an option on the ballot paper that says “I do not agree with any of these options”. Apparently the Indians are planning on adding this option to their election NEXT time.
I don’t know what it means for a representational government. But it is interesting that more & more people are starting to put the idea forward. Are spoilt votes or abstaining from votes the same thing? Probably not the latter, but a last options or a spoiled vote do still count as numbers. Numbers towards what is the question.
April 25, 2009 at 7:10 am
An interesting view. I have changed my mind many times on the subject.
Did I vote? No I didn’t. As a dual national I don’t vote when I am not living in SA. Voted in London in 1994 – first and last time I voted for South Africa. Been out of the country for every election since then. Now I have been outside of SA long enough to feel that I shouldn’t have the right to vote.
As for Zuma…..well, you already said it.
April 28, 2009 at 9:32 am
To appreciate my comments you may want to visit my blog and consider a post on why I eventually relented and went to vote. I know it’s different because unlike most in this conversation I live and work in SA. I do wish to add my 5cents’ worth: the right to vote, like any other rights in our bill of rights is subject to limitation in the interest of an open, fair and democratic society. The lawyers acting for the government on this issue failed to persuade the court that it was fair to limit the right of citizens living outside the country to vote. Such is the small price one pays for our democracy. I may disagree with those that wish for the “good old apartheid days” but I am bound to defend their right to say so and vote so.
As for the ANC, I am concerned that sometimes our cultural sensitivities lead us to judge others by our standards and thereby demonise them unduly. I do not agree with the moral aspects of the incident that led to the rape case of Jacob Zuma. However, he was tried in an open court and found not guilty – for that reason he is not a rapist, a craddle snatcher maybe, but not a rapist. The ANC and the majority of the people of this country made their choice, that counts for something, at least if democracy means something to you. More about this on my blog, if you wish.
May 1, 2009 at 3:31 pm
AA: Hi friend. Been away for a while. Of course, when I return you are always what I expect; honest and direct, and loving and compassionate. And, I like you, believe that no matter what, each in our corners of the world, we will make a difference, however and whenever we can. I just keep on keeping on, and when I get tired and discouraged, I go to the well for a cool drink.
It helps.
May 4, 2009 at 8:08 am
AA – exactly how much time was afforded to the expats to register to vote overseas? How easy was the process made for these expats to vote? In Australia where there are many many South Africans, care to guess how many cities had a polling station for these elections? In the UK….how many cities and polling stations?? My guess is that we would have had many more voters abroad if the process was made easy – i.e. the citizens were enabled in the first place. It’s a pity that it took a notorious right wing party to enforce the written constitution when your beloved ANC failed to enforce it in the 1st place.
Secondly, its your constitutional right to vote – irrespective of cost. Like you, I see waste in certain infrastructure developments, parties, arms deals, sporting events, blue light brigades etc etc – ALL of which would be better spent on a starving child. By you not voting, how much did the cost reduce? By your simplistic reasoning nobody should vote – even those in SA as there are still local costs to running an election – not only for those abroad who share equal interests.
Thirdly, I am surprised still by your political affiliations – as a life-long supporter of the ANC (who in their hey day were proudly sponsored and militantly trained by the communist Russians)to looking at the PAC (another communist party) as your possible 2nd choice should you have voted. Why on earth do you persist in voting for / or at least showing an incling towards communist parties? nevermind…personal question I guess.
Then you state that the DA are “skelm” – I almost wet myself when i read that. lets look at published facts. We have had how many instances of crime, bribery, extorsion and corruption within the ANC recently? How many within the DA? Puhhlease….to call the DA skelm while openly supporting the most obvious “skelms” is quite laughable. It is no secret in the media as to the cloud of corruption / “skelm’ness” within YOUR party…..NOT the DA’s.
May 4, 2009 at 8:32 pm
@San – Yes… I know what you mean. Die hart is swaar.
@Toaf – Yes mate. That’s what I hope as well. Hope the people will remember what it means to govern for the people and by the people.
@Champagne Heathen – Then I will vote! To say I don’t want to vote!
@Caroline – A bit of the heart pulling us in one direction and the head the other way? Maybe I’m just an optimist. But with Zuma…
@MoAfrika – You’re right… You’ll see my comments over at your blog…
@vanessaleighsblog – Hey! How are you! It’s been too long! And I need a cool drink from your blog-fountain…
@Private Julius – Bloody hell boet! It’s one thing to say we need polling stations at every embassy. But every town in the UK and Australia? That’s a bit of a waste. Where do you draw the line? Maybe they should bring in postal votes for those not at home. Ja, I agree on the waste. Just feel I don’t have to be part of more waste. Hell, the ANC haven’t been communist since… Well, they have never been communist in policies. Really! They don’t walk that walk. And they were trained and supported by both communists and democratic governments. Remember Kaunda? And… The PAC was never a communist party. They were an Africanist party. Major difference. I’ve actually work with the ANC government in SA (with business and trade unions) and never had a communist word in any of those negotiations. Oh, I know of the ANC being “skelm”. Tony Yengeni will not be forgotten. Maybe the DA won’t be as “skelm” as the ANC. But I’ve worked with them a bit as well and I really can’t stand their English way. You know, that way they think they always know better. A bit too colonialist for me thanks. Superiority complex. So I guess my choice is between the morally corrupt and the morally corrupt. Neither for me thanks. And if “forced” to make a choice? Rather the devil I know…
May 5, 2009 at 1:31 am
AA – You are older and wiser than I am…and more experienced politically. But from what I know, the militant ANC pre-democracy was trained by communist Russia, and the movement ennabled by the colonial west. The very same colonial west which fought for the ANC from outside SA’s border is today being criticised by the ANC government – how quickly they forget. The common, and current use of the term “comrades” and the frequency of AK47 assualt rifles evident today is a legacy of the communist training received in the ANC heyday.
On the voting, what do you make of the ANC (Your party) labelling overseas voters as “right wingers”? Helen Zille was an activitist FOR the movement…FOR democracy, she was one of the ANC enablers, and now the ANC, like you, shoot her down – why? How quickly they forget. Wiki tells me she was part of the Black Sah movement in the 80′s…..how quickly they forget. And then, to label her as a “little racist white girl” after she risked it all to fight for liberation is quite appalling actually.
I don’t think you know the devil anymore.
More on the voting, please tell me how fair it is, that for example: The whole of Canada had 1 voting station…In Toronto. Australia had one voting station….in Canberra. UK had one voting station…in London. The cost for all prospective voters in these countries would’ve been huuuuge…just to vote. This is why I am not surprised by low voter turnout abroad. nevermind the time allowed for these prospective voters to get their ducks in a row in order to get registered in the 1st place – laughable. What was it like in the USA? Postal ballots or electronic ballots seem to be the answer as you allude to above.
On your decision not to vote – some people consider it a right, most that care consider it a duty. I guess you permanent residence from now on is the USA so you probably couldn’t care less. many expats feel this way once they have chosen an overseas destination as their permanent home and I guess I can understand this.
May 7, 2009 at 11:43 am
During your times within the ANC, did the name Tim Jenkin ever come up?
May 18, 2009 at 3:25 pm
@Private Julius-most of those AK 47′s in circulation in South Africa today,was supplied by the Apartheid regime to Renamo in Mocambique and when the Civil War ended there, they flooded back to Gauteng.Was there myself at this time and saw AK’s being swopped for a pair of sneakers.