SA polls are more tragedy than comedy

In many ways, local government elections are more important than general elections. Picture: The Citizen Well, now we know; 4 November is the date when we all go to the polls to make our mark to choose the people we want to represent us in our local government. In many ways, local government elections are more important than general elections because city government just seems much more immediate.

We feel the pain of gridlock from broken traffic lights and, literally, the jarring of potholes as our tyres burst. We can see the waste and the non-delivery of services – and we can moan – and we do – around braai fires and water coolers, to anybody who’ll give us half an ear. But, here’s the rub, the level of moaning is inversely proportional to the number of us who will actually pitch up to vote.

That’s the first step, it’s not like a general election which is far more forgiving. For a local government election, you have to vote in the ward that you are registered in. TheElectoral Commission of SAwill do its usual excellent job of encouraging people to register, starting with their usual app or web-based search engine for you to check if your registration is still valid (if you changed address in the past four years) and if not, schedule times when you can re-register.

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Thanks to the president you’re even getting a day off to vote. The state puts in a huge effort to make sure we have regular, free, fair and transparent elections. It’s a far cry from the one man, one vote, once, that bedevilled liberated Africa for decades and it’s a benchmark for much of the rest of the world, too.

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