By next week this time, millions of South African will have cast their vote in the seventh national and provincial democratic elections — we hope.
According to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), 27,672,264 people are registered to cast their ballots around the country on May 29.
Of those nearly 28-million registered voters, 3,431,089 are in the Eastern Cape and 600,116 in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Last weekend South African expats cast their votes at 111 South African missions around the world, including in the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland and South Korea.
The IEC said 78,000 citizens had been registered to vote at these stations.
While the turnout for those missions is yet to be confirmed, long queues could be seen outside the missions, with some queuing several hours, after travelling hundreds of kilometres, to cast their vote.
“So what,” you might ask, “why should I vote?”
Here is why.
Widely believed to be the most hotly contested elections in democratic SA, for the first time this year voters will have three ballots — national candidates, provincial candidates and national regional candidates.
When we vote, we participate in the selection of leaders who make decisions on our behalf.
This act of choosing representatives ensures that the government mirrors the will of the people — every one of us.
If large segments of the population abstain from voting, the resulting government may not accurately reflect the diverse views and needs of the community.
So, by voting, we ensure that our interests and concerns are acknowledged and, hopefully, addressed.
And, if you still do not know who to vote for, ask yourself if the parties’ manifestos align with your morals and beliefs.
You still have a few days to read up on the parties’ manifestos available on the parties’ own websites and — for your convenience — some of these manifestos are on www.heraldlive.co.za under the Elections 2024 tab.
To vote is to honour the legacy of so many before us who could not do so, many who lost their lives fighting for us to have this right to vote.
HeraldLIVE
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