Report Back – Geoff Pullan

We have started the build up to the 2014 National and Provincial elections. There are posters all over the place advertising that people register to vote, that people attend political rallies and even ones that say if “so and so” was still alive they would vote for the ruling party.
At the moment, dead people can’t vote so those posters seem to be clinging to the past. In 1994 the Mandela government was upright and we could all aspire to their principles. Our government of 2013 has lost its way. Corruption seems to be a way of life, and yet the electorate still cling to the hope that the corrupt authorities can make life better.
Unfortunately, this is not possible in SA, nor anywhere in the world. Corrupt governments don’t make money, end of story. They spend it, and it is our money anyway. Spending our money for the common good, is fine. However giving our money to the select few, is not so fine. What does a citizen do? For some the frustration is dealt with by demonstrating and destroying. We have all seen and heard of the service delivery protests. Whilst this is a channel for anger, it really only achieves publicity but doesn’t fix the problem. The problem is bad government, so the solution is to change the government. The democratic way to do this is to elect another party to run our country. If we don’t speak up and get involved, then we get the government we deserve. As the posters say, get registered to vote. If you are not registered, or have moved since the last elections, then you should definitely register. On the weekend of November 9 and 10, all the voting stations in the country will be open from 08h00 to 17h00. Take along your green bar-coded Identity Document [I D], and the IEC staff will be able to register you.
You can contact Geoff on 083 695 9190.