My Vote-Did I Make The 'Right Choice'?

Yesterday was South Africa’s voting day – the day was a public holiday- yay. So until 2 days ago I didn’t think I was going to vote, but this was for different reasons to everyone else that seemed to not want to vote purely because they didn’t know who to vote for. I didn’t have those problems (or so I thought), I had missed the registration date and so thought I wasn’t registered but it turns out if you voted in 2004, you didn’t need to register again unless you changed locations, so I was still registered, but obviously in Rondebosch, where i used to live, which was awkward, how does one get there? Yes its only 7 minutes away from town, but I never leave town, why would I, have you been to town lately, town rocks! I had all the intentions to wake up early, cast my vote and feel empowered, even though I didn’t know for who yet – I soon realized, I was still excited, but then as I often do, I woke up at noon, which is to be expected after going to bed at 5am! When I woke up I heard on the radio that it didn’t matter where you were registered, you just had to fill a ‘form’ and you’d be able to vote – this announcement agreed with me cuz I’m surrounded by schools and civic centers… no I do not live in a settlement, just the Cape Town zoning is a bit odd, the city’s greenbelt, aptly named Green Point (where I live) is filled with schools, but that’s irrelevant right? So I made my way to one of the schools, decked out in greys and blacks, broken with hints of whites, you had to see it to love it – I had to have a moment, I was gonna be walking, I barely walk, but when I do, it must be a moment – again digression! My point was to convey the mood of the day, as much as we all like hate to admit South African voting is still racially charged, so I had the black jeans to represent black, the white v-neck t-shirt and white sneakers to represent the white, then the grey jacket and grey scarf to represent the middle ground which is where I often find myself, the aviator shades were just a creative call, not much meaning there! So I got there and everything was clearly, well maybe not clearly, but it was marked and the queues were short, I stood a total of 10 mins till I got to the table where a somewhat illiterate lady filled the form for me and I made my way to being inked and given two ballot papers – it was at this queue that I decided to start texting people, my friends, mom, dad etc to ask them who I should vote for, COPE, DA, ANC? one of the responses from a ‘will-not-be-named’ assumed responsible individual was “Vote for who you think is the better crook”, I gasped and some suggested the I.D & some UDM, that’s when I started questioning some of my friends’ intellect, a ridic suggestion was MCQP, which made me blurt out a loud shriek, people found this behavior peculiar (the laugh) considering everyone else looked nervously poised, you could have sworn they were Arabs going through customs in the States, anyway at the same time I was getting pressuring messages like, “do the right thing for your country”, what the f*%k IS the right thing? All in all it was an exhilarating 3 minutes in that final queue. I was then ushered to a booth and I took my time to look at both the Provincial and National ballots, then I voted, for different parties on each, in my head it seemed calculated but knowing me I probably cocked everything up. But at least I can say I voted. I exercised my right. The picture I took while in the booth, I was worried they might arrest me if they heard my phone camera go ‘click’ - which I guess would have been mildly more exciting than being back at work.

Special Report: SA Election 2009 Survey Results

The African National Congress remains the most popular party among voters with 47% support, according to the latest Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) survey published on Tuesday.The Democratic Alliance seems on course to maintain its official opposition status with 7% of the electorate supporting the party, the HSRC said in a statement.More voters, at 3%, expressed preference for the newly formed Congress of the People over the other old, established parties such as the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Independent Democrats with 2% and 1% respectively.The data was gathered in mid-December 2008 as part of the 2008 round of the annual SA Social Attitudes Survey, conducted by the council since 2003.The survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 6 613 South Africans comprising 58% female and 42% male participants - 60% blacks, 17% coloureds, 11% Indians/Asians and 13% whites.

More than half of the electorate in five provinces indicated they would vote for the ANC.The party was most popular in Limpopo (79%) followed by Mpumalanga (68%), North West (57%), Eastern Cape (55%), and the Free State (52%). The Western Cape was evenly contested by the ANC and the DA with each getting 20%.In the other three provinces, Northern Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC remained the most popular choice among the electorate.Cope and the DA vied for second-most popular party in the Eastern Cape, with both getting 4% support.The DA had the edge over Cope and the rest of the opposition parties in Northern Cape (13%), Gauteng (10%), North West (7%) and in the Free State, where it was the second-most popular party.KwaZulu-Natal remained the IFP stronghold at 9%.

National support for the ANC was particularly strong among women, at 50%, compared to 45% among men, and those with no schooling (63%), decreasing gradually with an increase in education levels.Conversely, support for the DA and Cope increased with increases in education levels.

Blacks remained the core constituency for the ANC with 58% saying they would vote for the ruling party.The DA had its support base among the whites (39%), coloureds (21%) and Indians/Asians (8%).Support for Cope was evenly spread across the race groups with 4% among whites, and 3% each among blacks, Indians/Asians and coloureds.The ID had its strongest support among coloureds (5%), and the IFP among blacks(2%).Of the total electorate, 12% indicated they would not vote, 13% were uncertain or did not know which party they would vote for, while 12% refused to answer.
Story courtesy of News24

Song Of The Day: Daughtry - Feels Like The First Time

Today's song is not all that new, and i've always liked it but this past week, its been on my mind more than ever - and it make me get the Daughtry album, the song was recorded late last year when Chris Daughtry joined CNN’s League of First Time Voters by contributing a cover of the Foreigner’s classic, “Feels Like the First Time". The song was used as the soundtrack to special reports throughout CNN’s election coverage focusing on first time votes during the past US election (Barack Obama and John McCain). “Getting to rerecord a classic song like this was a real honour for us, and we hope it helps inspire people to vote" said Daughtry after their first performance of the song. Even Foreigner’s Mick Jones approved of the new version, saying “Daughtry’s version of the song is very cool and has more than captured the essence of the original.” The song has an election-themed video (youtube ;). The song is featured on the Daughtry Deluxe reissue already out now.