The power of the vote appears lost to the majority of citizens of SA. I’m not sure how aware the electorate is of some of the aspects of the nature of elections.
Firstly, the only reason there are elections in a country is to appoint, in an equitable and fair manner, people who should manage the affairs of the country on behalf of the people for the period constitutionally determined.
Secondly, there is no such thing as “free and fair” elections.
In the money-driven world there is nothing for mahala. To contest elections, to offer yourself to serve your country, you need to have money. To start with, in SA you have to have money to deposit with the IEC for registration as a candidate. Let alone the money you require to ingratiate yourself to voters. No-one who has no money can contest elections.
To contest elections is therefore not “free”. It is therefore not “fair” to those who have no money. It is a dumb statement to say “everyone is free to stand for election or to vote”. Furthermore, there are costs involved for the IEC itself to run elections, nothing is “free”.
It cannot be said to be “fair” when the incumbent office holders are already in control of the process. Voters are already aware of them, they can time implementation of projects to be carried out on the eve of elections such that voters go to polls with the good deeds fresh in their minds.
Even if you were to think of “free” as referring to voters voting with a free conscience, is that possible? How is that measured such that some “observer” can declare the elections to be “free and fair”. How many times do we read about votes being bought?
Thirdly, elections are not asking you about who you love.
Elections are about giving a mandate to those who offer themselves as candidates to run a country. The crucial consideration in making a choice is the ability of a candidate to manage the country for the benefit of the country’s people. It should always be remembered that it is you the citizen, the voter, who fund the state through your taxes.
Your country needs you to select the best people to do the job, not people you just love. Your country needs you to select people who will use the money that is collected from everyone through taxes in a manner that benefits everyone not to be stolen to benefit the elected while the people have no water, electricity or functioning schools and hospitals. It is very irresponsible to do otherwise.
It is similarly very irresponsible for anyone to stand up as a candidate to be elected while his agenda is only to secure an income.
Fourthly, your conscience cannot be blackmailed by the common narrative that people died so that we can vote. Yes, people died so that we can have the power to decide how and who our country is ruled by, so that we never have the need “to fight” to enforce our rights.
This is the power of the vote. No-one died so that you should vote in a rigid, specific manner year in, year out regardless of conditions you experience.
Furthermore, it was not to establish a new sport in which political parties compete for popularity and people use the vote to express partisan loyalty while continuing to use the same old methods of strikes and violence used when they had no vote.
It therefore remains a puzzle how people have more confidence in violent strikes to effect change in their circumstances rather than the vote. Clearly, the vote is not associated with a means of effecting change.
Fifthly, there has to be an alignment between the people’s concerns/needs/aspirations and the choices they make in terms of what individual or political party they vote for. This should be backed by ongoing periodic assessment of ability to address such concerns to determine who should be in government.
• Dr Mosalakae is a Sowetan reader
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