The ‘Sidikiwe! Vukani! Vote No!’ campaign was launched on April 15. The campaign calls upon registered voters to protest against the corruption, cronyism and decline in the ideals enshrined in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution which it claims is evident in the ANC.
The ‘Sidikiwe! Vukani! Vote No!’ campaign was launched on April 15. The campaign calls upon registered voters to protest against the corruption, cronyism and decline in the ideals enshrined in the Freedom Charter and the Constitution which it claims is evident in the ANC.
The protest can take two forms, either by spoiling your ballot or by voting strategically for any party other than the ANC.
‘Sidikiwe! Vukani’, isiXhosa for ‘We are fed up! Arise’, aims to make a tactical, ascertainable protest against issues in the way the country is being run.
The campaign’s public statement mentions issues such as Nkandla, the killing of Andries Tatane and the Marikana massacre as evidence of failures on the part of the ANC government.
The public statement also highlighted a decrease in registered voters since 1994, stressing the 12.4 million people (46.9% of eligible voters) who either failed to register to vote or did register but did not vote in 2009.
This decrease has been attributed to a sense of disillusionment amongst South Africans who no longer feel that voting can help contribute to the democracy the country should be striving toward.
The eight initial signatories of the campaign include former Deputy Minister of Defence and Deputy Minister of Health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, founder and spokesperson of the Democratic Left Front, Mazibuko Jara, former Deputy Minister of Defence and Minister of Intelligence Services, Ronnie Kasrils and former Deputy Director-General, Marine and Coastal Management, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and Executive Director of International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa (IDAF) in London, Horst Kleinschmidt.
“We’re all people who were part of the struggle that got us to the 1994 election,” Kleinschmidt said. “And today we are very, very, very disappointed.
“We see a new elite that are totally careless of poor in the country. They have not taken any steps to mend the divide between rich and poor. Eventually that will result in upheaval and we think this should be dealt with politically.”
