Election Day In South Africa

Today, Wednesday, May 7th, 2014 is Election Day in South Africa. It is marked as a public holiday so schools are closed and most businesses have also shut down so the employees can go and vote. This election is to decide what party the people want to rule or lead the others in Parliament. South Africa has a multi-party system so multiple parties will be elected to place members from their parties into Parliament. Each party will receive a percentage of all the votes which will convert into how many seats they get. The ANC (African National Congress) has won every election since 1994 and will likely win this one. Well, at least receive the highest percentage in Parliament. The South African Parliament seats 400 members.

Today, the ANC has 264 seats in Parliament. That means they control 66% of the power. This pretty much means that anything the ANC wants to pass into law that stands within the bounds of its constitution, they can. This is because they control more than majority of Parliament. In the 1999 election, the ANC won 266 seats which was one seat short of gaining two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally amend the constitution. Close call, I'd say. 

The support for the ANC is high because the party is still riding the wave of freedom, even 20 years later.They always go back to how they freed South Africa from Apartheid. It also helps that they had Nelson Mandela as their first president. This is obviously wonderful, however, the people of South Africa seem to be scared to let another party garner a higher percentage in Parliament. They fear Apartheid will return. However, change is good or at least could be for South Africa. The ANC has a lot of under-the-counter deals as well as corruption within the party. The members live the high life while many citizens barely make it by. This can be seen everyday in the headlines of the newspaper. Something about the ANC and corruption seems to always make the front page. 

Nkandlaspeak

One major and very sad scandal that has happened recently is President Jacob Zuma's multi-million Rand estate. Now dubbed the Nkandla Scandal. President Zuma has built a 246 million rand ($25 million dollar) mansion in Nkandla, which is located in KwaZulu-Natal. It is said to have been built with tax payer money and quite frankly I'm not sure where else the money would have come from. To make things worse, the estate was put up right in the middle of a township. Insensitive? Just maybe. His livestock live better than most of the people in that area. Furthermore, when the news broke about Nkandla, his press committee tried to cover things like swimming pools, tennis courts, and an amphitheater with other names. They told the public that swimming pools were fire pools built so there would be ample amounts of water for when a fire breaks out. What...? Also, his amphitheater was labeled as a retaining wall when there was no need for one. Interesting, to say the least.

It's things like this that make me wonder why people still vote for the ANC or the fact that the ANC decided to give Zuma another 5 years if the election is won. The ANC won't gain as many seats as the election in 2009 but I'm sure they will still have the majority. The DA (Democratic Alliance) is a party I would like to see gain more seats in Parliament. They seem to have things under control and the Western Cape (Cape Town) is run by the DA. If you compare the ANC regions to the DA, it's not even a contest. Cape Town is a wealthy, vibrant, and successful city. That's how all of South Africa should be.

How the election works is each party will gain a certain percentage of the votes. This will be converted into how many seats they get. Let's say the ANC wins 60% of the votes. They will receive 240 seats. The next party with the most seats will most likely be the DA. However, the percentages will be spread far a part. The DA will probably only receive 20% or so resulting in 80 seats. Then from there, all the parties in Parliament vote on who should be president. Each party will nominate a member for President (ANC will nominate Zuma) and then all members of Parliament vote. Obviously, if ANC controls 60% of the vote then Zuma will win hands down (Considering everyone from ANC votes for him, which is very likely). 

So, that's how it works down here. Unfortunately, there is a high percentage of voter apathy (lack of caring) even though many South African's fought for the right to vote and a fair election prior to the end of Apartheid.

We will see how these elections turn out, but not until I am back in the U.S. The elections aren't like the United States where we know who the next president is that night. The ballots are counted by hand (or so I think) and every vote counts. In the U.S., votes go towards electoral votes within the state in which every electoral vote the state has is given to the most popular (most voted for) candidate in the state. This speeds the process up. 

Considering these elections take so long they tend to go into the next day. Meaning Thursday the 8th will also be a public holiday. Cross your fingers, no school baby!