WHO TO VOTE FOR IN THIS HIGHLY CONTESTED ELECTION?

Picture: Google images

With South African 2014 general elections weeks away, the ruling party and opposition parties are bombarding us with their communication messages trying to sell us their ideologies and get our votes. It is ultimately up to us, the citizens to make an informed decision as to whom we choose to run our government. No matter what the political parties say about one another in the media – like saying who is corrupt or this party is misleading the public – we as active citizens must be objective and critically accept all the messages from all the political parties before making our decision.

It is hard to know who is wrong and who is right as political parties constantly point fingers at each other, blaming one another on the social ills our nation is faced with forgetting the most critical element which is focusing on how they will bring about change in the country instead of attacking each other.

As voters we should be critical as to which party we choose to run our government – vote with our heads, not hearts by following the masses or close acquaintances. Your vote is your voice for transformation, no one needs to know which political organisation you going to vote for and no one has the right to tell you which party to vote for.

I for one have accepted and critically listened to all the policies and promises that each party promises and can say that some parties are just all talk and have no constructive plan in place to deliver on the promises they make. I have heard it all from political parties – no corruption, better health care, free education, combat crime, create jobs etc. I have yet to hear what I haven’t heard before from political parties; something that’s not cliché a message that conveys exactly how the political party is planning to deliver the promises they making.

All what some of these political parties promise are basic factors that every government around the world should provide for, in my opinion they shouldn’t even include them in their manifestos but rather communicate what makes them unique and what actions they intend on taking to make this country to be at the same level as western countries. We can’t be hearing similar promises from every political organisation about change is in our hands because we already know that. What we need to be hearing are plans in place to move forward as country, because yes we don’t need a corrupt government that is apparent, so parties need to stop pulling the corruption card all the time to try convincing us to vote for them. Give us the voters some credit, we smarter than that.    

Before making a decision as to which party you vote for, scrutinise all the messages from all the parties and go for the one that you see its promises best serve you as an individual and are attainable, contemplate on where you want this country to be and choose a party that shares the same vision as you.