Finally the wait is over!
The day has finally arrived!
After three months of campaigning (is it just me or did it feel more like 3 years?), South Africa is having her seventh national elections since democracy. I always feel slightly nostalgic on election day and find myself thinking back to 26 April 1994.
I was woken just after 4 am by a phone call from a member of the election team in Stellenbosch, which I was part of. “Wake up and get down to Kayamandi. You have to see what’s going on!” he shouted down the line.
I quickly got dressed and sped through the dark, sleepy streets of Stellenbosch. As I crossed the railway bridge leading to the entrance of Kayamandi, I spotted lines of people stretching for miles, barely visible under the few streetlights. People stood quietly in the darkness and rain, waiting. Old people were sitting on oil drums and those who could not walk were wheeled over in wheelbarrows. Babies were tied to women’s backs, with plastic shopping bags made into little hats to keep their heads dry. Even sleepy teenagers were there to see what was going on. They were all there, in line, waiting to vote!
Overwhelmed with emotion, I got out of my car. Together with the other election organisers, we went up and down the lines, explaining that the polling booths would not be open for several hours, that there were three days of voting, and that everyone could go home and come back later. There was no need to stand in the rain. But over and over, we were told to go away, and no one moved. One old man said to me: ‘It is my first and possibly only chance to vote. I will not move until I have done so.’
These scenes of course played out all over South Africa, with mile-long queues, people waiting for hours and some even sleeping outside overnight.
There were so many emotional stories during those days. In the Eastern Cape, a very frail, elderly gentleman was wheeled by his grandson into the voting station in a wheelbarrow. He could not read or write, but was assisted by the independent election monitors. He smiled broadly as they marked his finger with the indelible ink. As they left the venue, he suddenly collapsed and died. His final act was to vote. His family believed that he had ‘hung on’ so that his lifelong dream of voting could be fulfilled.
Today it is hard to imagine what it must have felt like for those who had fought so hard, and sacrificed so much, to vote for the first time. When asked how he felt an emotional Archbishop Tutu said: ‘It is like being asked to describe the colour red to someone born blind – impossible!’
Today, thirty years later, we get another chance to vote, but many might decide not to do so. Over the last few decades, many South Africans have apparently lost interest in politics. This year over 15 million South Africans did not register and during the previous local government election in 2021 only 46% of those registered voted.
Hopefully today will be different. We have to remember 1994 and what came before it. If we feel inclined to stay at home, we have to remind ourselves of those who suffered and even died so that we can vote.
South Africa has come a long way since 1994.
Against all the odds we were able to transition from an oppressive, undemocratic and violent state to a democracy with one of the most liberal constitutions in the world. It is also true that the vast majority of people are better off now than they were under apartheid, and it is important to think how bad things would have been by now, if we did not see the end of apartheid thirty years ago.
Of course, no one can deny that a lot has also gone wrong over the last three decades and it is truly sad that we do not have more to celebrate today, but that should inspire us further to have our voices heard at the ballot box.
Very few countries who have similar economic inequalities, demographic diversity and a similar history of oppression and discrimination have been able to still have free and fair elections 30 years after liberation.
We have had six peaceful and fair national elections since 1994 and nothing suggests that the same will not be true today. If nothing else that is something we can be incredibly proud of and serve as a reminder never to take our vote for granted.
Happy voting!