Election thoughts… reflections… anticipation…

The black man must enter the white man’s house through the back door. The black man does most of the dirty work. When a white man who hasn’t gone far in school is given such work he says I’m not a kaffir! Black man cleans the streets but mustn’t walk freely on the pavement; Blackman must build houses for the white man but cannot live in them; black man cooks the white man’s food but eats what is left over.
- Down 2nd Avenue, Eskia Mphahlele

It has been a long walk to freedom for the black man to shed those shackles of apartheid. South Africa had it’s first black president in 1994. Living in a town almost owned by Indians, the change was not anything great to me. Being fairly young, my recollection of exposure to apartheid was minimal. I recall, vaguely, the murmurs of teachers, and the glee of the older generations, embracing the change with concern and doubt. Doubt that South Africa had a future with the ‘Black man in charge’.

It’s now 2009, Elections are upon us, once again leaving us in a spin of doubt, worry, fear and possibility. It’s been years since the eradication of apartheid leaves us with bitter sweet perceptions of reality and change.

South Africa is still classified as a third-world country despite its noteworthy points.

South Africa, land of opportunity, soon to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

South Africa with the dark clouds of worry, hovering over its rainbow nation – we now wait for the ballots to be cast, and for the inauguration of a new government. Hopefully a government that will strive for justice and equality, condensing crime and injustice, aiding the poverty stricken landscape, and educating a thirsty nation - an oyster of hope that only time will bear testimony to.

Wednesday, 22 April 2009, more than 23 million South Africans will be voting in what consider by many as the most important election since 1994.