South Africans will go to the polls on Wednesday, 29 May 2024.
There are 27.79 million registered voters.
Sadly, many voters are disheartened and disillusioned by the state of the country, and are questioning whether they even have to vote.
Since the outcome of elections affect not just the quality of my life, but my pocket as well – I feel it very necessary to cast my vote.
Our taxes are spent on funding healthcare, education, infrastructure and social services.
My taxes come off money that I work very hard for.
I want a say in how it is spent, and by who.
Whichever party runs your province ultimately determines how much you pay for your electricity, rates, taxes, and other necessities.
How well or how badly they manage crime determines how much money you must take out of your pocket to secure your home, family and possessions.
Where your children are placed in schools determines the amount of money you will have to pay for travelling fare and even aftercare.
How near or far you are from a public hospital that provides good service and dispenses good medication determines how much money you spend when you or a loved one gets sick.
Transport
Whether the trains and other modes of public transport run efficiently determines how much of your salary gets spent on travelling to and from work.
So ultimately how things work in your immediate vicinity, and how it affects your pocket – is influenced by your vote.
At a national level, we vote to ensure that we have a say in who represents us on policies and governance issues.
The easy thing to say is that once we’ve put people into power, they forget about us and only see to themselves.
But somewhere along the line we have to be able to tell ourselves that we made the effort to bring about the changes we want to see.
How to vote?
During this election, there will be three ballot papers for you to put your X on. They are as follows:
– The national ballot: This ballot will consist of a list of political parties vying for seats for 200 seats in the National Assembly. This ballot will be used to vote for political parties. There are currently 52 parties who will be on this ballot and the configuration will be a dual column.
– The regional or province-to-national ballots: This will have political parties and independent candidates contesting for the seats reserved for each province in the National Assembly. Voters will use this ballot to elect a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in the National Assembly. The number of contestants range from 30 to 44 on regional ballots. The configuration of this ballot is single column.
– The provincial ballots: This ballot is unique to each province and includes parties and independent candidates competing for seats in each respective provincial legislature. This ballot will allow voters to choose either a political party or an independent candidate to represent them in provincial legislatures. The number of contestants range from 24 to 45 on the provincial legislatures ballots.
Identifiable
– The ballot papers will be identifiable by the following:
– Full registered name of the party
– The photograph of the registered party leader
– Registered abbreviated name of the party
– The registered emblem or symbol of the party
In respect of independent candidates, the ballot papers will have:
– The name of the independent
– The photograph bearing the face of the independent
– The word “INDEPENDENT”
You have the power to decide on the quality of life you want for yourself, your community, and even future generations.
Voting is your chance to stand up for the issues you care about.
This is your life, so take the time to help decide what’s best - voting, venting on social media or protesting. What is the best way to make your voice heard and make a positive input on the issues that concern you?
Elections are decided by the people who go out and vote.
If you don’t vote, someone else will make the decision for you.
If you don’t vote, you get stuck with other people’s choices – and you can’t even complain about it because you let it happen!
By participating in the electoral process as a voter, you get a say in how things are done for the next five years.
Your power is in your vote. Please make the effort to cast your vote.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za