I will be honest with you. Going into this election, I am overwhelmed.
There are more than 600 parties and independent candidates contesting.
There are posters on every pole. And in many parts of Joburg, people are going into Wednesday’s vote without water.
So when I had a few minutes with former president Kgalema Motlanthe at the Inclusive Growth Forum in the Drakensberg, I asked him the question many of you have been asking me: how do you decide?
His answer was refreshingly simple. Forget the big ideological debates and foreign policy. Local government elections are about your lived experience.
“It’s the road. It’s the refuse collection. Are the rates not unaffordable?”
He has been around for every election since 1994, so I asked him what he would say to young people who don’t want to vote at all.
His point is that not voting doesn’t protect you from the outcome. Other people will still elect the councillors who decide how your area is serviced. Unless you have a borehole, private security and high walls, those decisions will reach you anyway.
His advice to young South Africans who don’t know where to start was civic education. Understand where you live, how the system works and where your community fits into the country. Without that context, you end up deciding based on the headline you read that morning.
I reminded him that these days, it’s not a headline. It’s a TikTok. We both laughed.
At the end, I asked for his wish for South Africa. He wants the country to be as efficient as the Springboks. But my question is who is going to be our Siya Kolisi?
“Despairing is not an option at all,” he insisted.
I left feeling a little less overwhelmed. I hope this conversation does the same for you before you vote on Wednesday.
Watch the latest episode of Let’s Debrief and let me know what you think. And tell me: what topics do you want us to unpack next?
Qaanitah