Do South Africans vote based on race or issues.?

Question

I have fought all my life for a democratic SA.
I always voted against my family and friends.
When I voted ANC in 1994 it was because I believed in majority rule.
I still do and if you want to f... .. your country that is you problem.

Brad : So you condone beating up anybody that votes in opposition to you.
That does not surprise me. Now who does that remind me of mmm Oh yes Robert Mugabe. I bet you frown on his actions against the opposition ( but then he's black) I used my vote in 1994 to vote against the previous regime. I was disgusted by them and voted against them as I would against anybody with their record. I don't feel silly now. That was 13 years ago,hence my question.
Is it not time to vote on issues rather than race.
As far as maxism goes you do not have a clue.
Most countries in Europe (a lot wealthier than SA) are very far left of the new SA.

michm & cakes4africa:I am a beleiver in democracy and when If I speak about majority rule,I'm not talking about black majority,I talk of the majority party.
If you can't accept that then you must accept rule of the gun as we had in the last regime or the way Zim is going under RM.

Alf: I think you know that I know that total power corrupts but I still beleive that the majority party must rule and the only way to get a good majority party is to get one that is not safe (66% ofe the vote)
Even in the UK when Blair won with a landslide, he did things his way until now when the labour party is running scared.
About Marxism. I think you use the term far without thinking. My Grandson goes to school in Parow ( Cape Town) his fees are R1600 per month, if he lived with me he would pay nothing in fact we don't pay that much to go to Uni. He would also not be paying for medical the way he does.
If it was a Marxist state this would not be the case.
We should be argueing a case for the above or lower rates or whatever your gripe is.
People may then see your point and vote for someone better

Brad: I did not twist that statement around to my advantage and to prove it you restate that you do not go along with beating up of the opposition unless they are misguided marxists.
Well my friend the whole object of an election is to get everybodies view and that is it. The difference between you and me is that I respect everybodies view and even if I don't like it, I accept that you have a right to your opinion.
At no time did I say that I was a Marxist.
My very old mother at the time being a very religous person was concerned that religion was not getting to the people of Russia. She spent a fortune smuggling bibles into Moscow and documents from these transactions were found. She was travelling in the USA at the time and I was on holiday from the UK house sitting. No doubt if she were home the nazi thugs would have beaten her up.
I will never be sorry for voting out that murderous bunch.
I was doing Nat sevice during Sharpville 1960s
Don't jump to conclusions and lighten up.

Alf: My grandson has been seriously ill recently with various problems and besides the her tax and R5000 per month my daughter has had huge bills.
When you say thatyou pay for NHS I assume you mean in tax and NI. I don't think there is any comparison.
Tony Blair, the looney left? you should have lived here in the 70's. Tony Blair is considered right of the Conservatives by half of his own party.
The QA hospital in Cosham has 80% foreign nursing staff. Get rid of them and there will be trouble.
I still think that the ANC although left of what people were used to are not Marxist. Too many very wealthy private companies for a Marxist state.
We will have to agree to disagree on this one unless you live in the South and we can discuss itat length over a bottle of wine or two.

Alf: the R5000 per month is her medical aid.
That is more than her tax.
Then top up med. costs on top of that.
Then R1600 per month for schooling.
As a single Mom she cannot keep up with those costs.

Answer 1

Issues.
Always have, always will.

There is no job with more potential than those of the politicians to do good for the people.
This is why I feel the first and foremost skill/qualities required for the post is the understanding that their position is to enhance all the people´s lives.
This is not a difficult concept to understand, but it´s amazing how few governments in the world act on this basis.

This is my grievance with this regime in SA and certainly the previous one as well.
When both have had the opportunity to act out their highest duty they have given in to their lowest instincts.

Don´t misconstrue my lambasting of this governments incompetencies to be sympathy for the previous regime.
I feel as strongly (or more) about the previous dinosaurs.
They wanted their bread buttered on both sides and left us to pick up the crumbs.
If they didn´t want to live with the Africans (under the basis that all humans are equal) then they should have created seperate borders in SA and done the menial labour themselves or sourced it, and Left the Africans with the freedom to develop at their own pace on the land which they were already inhabiting.

No, the previous governments unsustainable ideologies set the controls of this country on a crash course for which the countries ancestors now have to pay dearly.

We humans still have a long way to go before we even mature past "nursery school", we still haven´t even learnt to play properly together.
But there is still hope, as long as we can agree that we are in "nursery school" we will have a starting point and be able to move forward.

Answer 2

There is an ideal world, and then there is the real world and then there is SA!!!! Let's face it, how many non-zulus vote for Inkatha (not the token banana boy in Durbs but in general)? How many English speakers vote for the VryheidsFront, AWB or Herstigte Nasionale Party? How many Xhosas would ever dream of NOT voting for Madiba's party? This is the probelm in SA, it's not racism it's more like tribalism expressed in a poltical sense. I am not saying that all Afrikaners are right-wing nutters, I am not saying that no non-zulus vote for the ANC but I am sure all the maatjies will catch my drift, one swallow doesn't make summer. In my own family I had an auntie who would always ask of a prospective mayor, politician etc "Is he a Jew?". Sadly this is part of human nature and in SA it is entrenched to an extreme. Personally I would vote for Leon Schuster!!!!!!!!!!! The only one who takes the piss out of all of us, as we much deserve!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

to respond to your question specific it is genuine. I do think of that D405!'s answer is a clean indication of this as he/she states by no ability to vote for a white guy. Whats unhappy is that that's maximum individuals of south africans mentality fairly blacks. they might somewhat vote in line with shade then vote for the guy they think of is nice for the activity. Zuma is a suited occasion as he's front runner yet is on trial for corruption and has plenty help its certainly frightening.I 'm south african and individually im apprehensive if a guy like zuma turns into president basically for the reality he's on trial for corruption. the colour of ones skin should not be a decider. apartheid is over and could by no ability take place lower back.

Answer 4

It didnt work because there is still no democracy unless you believe a one Party State is democracy. What it is now is a Communist Kleptocracy and voting for the ANC was a vote for Marxism. But to answer your question - they vote for the photograph that is pointed out to them by the friendly ( Anc ) Election Officer.
Johnny - I agree with you that over the last 15 years there has been a swing in European Politics to the left but I would hardly call any of them Marxist. Capitalism still reigns supreme but look also at the flood of immigrants in to Europe and the demands for rights which we in the UK have aquiesced to. The mans in the street in the UK is sick of them despite what the looney Left Newspapers and TV say. Sarkozt has just won in Francs and the Spanish Premier is under pressure. If the Tories could muster someone other than that wet Cameron then you could almost guarantee that New Labour ( old ideas) would be out. There are fee paying schools in Communist Europe so that is no exception and we do pay for NHS in the UK . Mbeki,Mandela and Tshabalala were all politicall indoctrinated in the then Soviet Union and if you read some Economists they will say the SA economy is set up on a combination of the Chinese and Russian models. So once a Marxist always a Marxist and it has failed at every level Worldwide.However the biggest problem for the SA voter is that their realistic choice is between Marxism and Leninism and Western values are out the window. Mbeki is insistent on an Afrocentric culture as opposed to a Eurocentric culture despite the fact that it has ruined every Country to the North of him.

Answer 5

My vote is based on issues. It however a fact that those issues have to do with "race" to an extent. I would not vote for a party whose policies will revert the Black people's gains since 1994. Such party will not be made up of significant Black members - so race comes in.

Answer 6

Well, if you are talking about majority rule, then take a look at Zimbabwe and you will quickly change your mind. We also look at competence, ability. These are as important as what the masses want. If you want to stretch it, then the Soviet Union is also democratically ruled. A democracy can only function when there is also a good opposition. Otherwise it is monopoly.

Answer 7

What does majority rule have to do with the way this country is run? Votes should be based on issues and the issues we face everyday in this country will tell you the wrong one was picked this time.

In what way as your life changed for the better since 1994 besides the elimination of apartheid from one race to now an opposite version of it with the older whites still benefiting in many ways because of safety nets they set up while in power?

What has improved for us all?

Answer 8

Jason D. Did you read the question?
Jowijo, LOL

No, we vote on issues if anyone votes based on race, then there's a lot of education needed there.

Answer 9

They vote mostly race, and issues to some extent.Since, Apartheid was abolished, I guess that race will be an issue for some time to come.

Answer 10

I think we naturally vote for people we feel we share somthing in common with or that we can relate to. Its also important for easch race to feel that they have propor representation. This is true in all countries. The previosu government obviously did not have everyone interests at heart so we are more likely to "play it safe" and vote for someone who looks like us. I know that if trevor manual where to run for president, Id definately vote for him. But then again I would definately vote AGAINST someone like Gerald Morkel, if he ran.