General elections 2009

Millions of South Africans voted yesterday. I also made my mark at the local library here in Grahamstown. The queue at the voting station on campus was still long in the evening so myself and Matedi, fellow Journalism student, decided to go to the voting station at the local libary after we were tipped that there were not many people there.

We did not take more than 15 minutes at the polling station to cast our votes. When I left the polling station I felt satisfied that my vote would make an impact, no matter how small, in breaking the monopoly of power held by one party.

I'm eagerly awaiting the results like most South Africans but in the meantime I will be closely following the process of counting through radio, television and the internet. It is predicted that the ANC will win but it remains to be seen if they will still get an overwhelming majority like they did in the previous elections.

So one must prepare to live under the fallible Jacob Zuma's presidency. Interesting times lie ahead of us. Verbal assaults against the media and the judiciary are coming our away in leaps and bounds.