Rain or shine, go make your cross

Rain or shine, make your voice heard on Wednesday. Voting day is like a hundred and one fables rolled into one. The big bad wolf is closer to the door than ever, while Goldilocks has spent three decades searching for something that’s just right. Instead, there’s been endless huffing and puffing, with witches fattening voters for slaughter. Even the breadcrumbs have disappeared, pecked away by scavengers while the economy fell on its own sword. And that’s why voting matters. Apologies to Aesop, but when the North Wind and the Sun compete to stop a weary, wary voter from reaching the ballot box, neither should win. A little heat, rain and thunderstorming should discourage nobody. South Africans are tough. We’ve been kicked in the nuts by everything from load shedding to state capture. Potholes and leaking infrastructure probably outnumber the Defence Force’s operational equipment. Solid political leadership resembles the Air Force’s fleet of Gripens – expensive machinery, with barely enough working parts to put a pair in the sky for inaugurations. Yet, despite all the political fairy tales we’ve been sold, the ballot remains ours. No wolf, witch, wind or scorching sun gets to take it away. Rain or shine, make your voice heard on Wednesday. Because if you don’t, you don’t get to complain later.