Is a vote for the ANC a sign of lack of critical reasoning, intellectual bankruptcy, indifference to good governance or downright stupidity as suggested by some albeit subtly?
Speaking with Journalists in Cape Town about his decision not to vote ANC, Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged people to vote wisely, "don't vote mindlessly, don't be voting cattle. Think when you're making that cross and remember that it is going to decide what quality of life you are going to have for the next five years."
Commenting on Ronnie Kasrils "vote no" campaign, the Archbishop said that "vote no" campaign forces South Africans to be aware of the value and consequences of their vote. "They are shaking people up: do you know you have a precious thing‚ the vote? Think. . . think about what you want to do with it."
Recently Dr Jack & Curtis cartoon clearly suggests that those who vote ANC are clowns who have inferior intellectual capacity to make informed decisions. Not to be outdone, the Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, breaking away from her usual measured approached, likened ANC voters with abused partners who stay in abusive relationships hoping their abusive partners would change.
Explaining away the continuous dismal failure of the opposition to make significant inroads into the ANC electoral base, some analysts suggest that South Africa's election outcome shows that voting decision is not yet issue based in South Africa. Thus, ANC's electoral victory is driven by uncritical thinking electoral base whose choice in the voting booth is informed by sentiments rather than policy, good governance and service delivery issues.
The above suggest that if you have voted for the ANC, you have failed to apply your mind properly and somehow, you deserve all that maybe bad about the ANC government. This logic smacks of arrogance and lacks critical thought.
Like every eligible voter, the likes of Archbishop and Public Protector have a right to identify and rank issues that will ultimately inform who they are voting for. However to declare their own choices as measure to determine whether the electorate votes wisely is problematic. It is downright arrogance.
The logic is that in the face of Nkandla and other poor governance issues surrounding the ANC government, no right minded person can ever vote for the ANC. This logic is obviously flawed and lacks critical analysis of South Africa's electorate.
For a large part of SA electoral base, good governance ranks low when it comes to voting decision. In contrast, policies such as AA/EE, BEE and land redistribution rank high. No matter how much the ANC can improve its record on good governance, traditional DA and FF plus electoral base will never vote ANC because they regard ANC policies as threat to their privilege and therefore use their vote for DA and FF plus as a hedge to protect their privilege.
The reverse is true for ANC voters. No matter how much the DA can trumpet its record of good governance in the Western Cape, traditional ANC voters will never vote for the DA. For them, the DA and FF plus are anti-black by virtue of opposing policies such as EE/AA, BEE and land distribution that are meant to improve black people's material condition.
Ironically, the intellectual process behind a DA vote is taken for granted while that of the ANC is assumed to be an upshot of uncritical reasoning.
To expect that ANC voters must vote for other smaller opposition parties simple on the bases of good governance is tantamount to assuming that good governance is the only differentiator among political parties in South Africa. Furthermore, it is to assume that elections is the only platform for the electorate to canvass for good governance. This expectation is obviously devoid of serious thought.
In fact, Chapter 9 institutions such as the Public Protector are there to deal with governance issues. By the way, people seem to have devised other avenues by protesting for the removal of corrupt politicians more especially in local government without necessarily changing political allegiance.
What about voting with your heart? This is often the accusation levelled to ANC voters. Does following your heart when voting necessarily mean absence of rationality? I do not think so unless a voter has been unconscious for all of his life up until the moment (s)he has to mark the ballot paper with X. "Voting with your heart" is a last tool at the disposal of every voter when all seems to yield the same results across political parties.
This is evident when one engages with people in rural areas and townships particularly the old generation. Ngohlohlesabo bonke mntanam bhentele ndivotele lomkhonto unevili wasikhululayo engcinezelweni. Amabhulu entshona koloni asaqhubeka nobuhlanga. (They are all fat cats, whites are still continuing with racism in the Western Cape, it is better to vote for the liberation movement).
These are people who still carry the scars of apartheid and continue to witness its ripple effect on their grandchildren. When all seems to be equal in their eyes, dare not to call them stupid, clowns or behaving like abused spouses when they follow their hearts.
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