Municipal elections happen every five years. The last time South Africa had an opportunity to vote in a municipal election, Italy lifted the Football World Cup, Israel invaded Lebanon, you couldn't sneeze without colleagues hoping you didn't have Avian Flu and Tom Cruise's baby Suri was born.
Since then your council has been taking decisions on electricity delivery (read here how municipalities sell you Eskom electricity), your sewage and sanitation, storm water systems (did your roads flood during the last heavy rains?), refuse removal, firefighting services, the decisions around land use and the management of parks and recreational areas.
Your vote in the municipal elections decides who is in charge and who manages the staff who ensure that municipal services are delivered.
Policies, by-laws and the local budget are first approved by the municipal council before being put into effect. What your immediate neighbourhood looks like is also determined by the council as it makes decisions on development plans.
If you don't vote, you can't rightly complain about poor service, can you?
How the voting system works
In South Africa you either live under a metro council, a local council or a District Management Area (DMA). The different authority structures require slightly different voting procedures.
You will vote for proportional representation within your municipality as well as for an individual from a party.
Proportional representation (PR) allows you to vote for a party and the party is allocated seats according to the percentage of votes it gets. Candidates for the seats are drawn from a party list. Since all the votes are counted, and all of them count, this system helps to protect smaller parties.
South Africans mostly fall into metro and local council voters.
Metro council voters get a PR vote for the council as well as a vote for an individual council member.
Local council voters get two PR votes, one for their local council and another for their district council.
District management area voters get a PR vote for the district council and a PR vote for the DMA.
Now you know what your vote means on the day and why you should vote, here’s how to ensure you're registered to vote and what to do about it if you're not.
Register, or at least check you are registered
Voter registration is coming up this weekend (5, 6 February). The Independent Electoral Committee allows you to check if you're registered by SMSing your ID number to 32810 (normal rates apply) or calling them toll-free from a landline on 0800 11 8000.
Alternatively go to their website and fill in your ID number.
To find out where to register, navigate to the contact page on the elections.org website and use the drop-down bar under Provincial and Municipal offices. Alternatively enter your street or suburb in this search bar.
This weekend, head to your registration office with your green ID book, or a temporary ID. Once you've completed the necessary paperwork, you will have your ID book bar code scanned and get a registration sticker to paste into your ID book. Your registration will be automatically updated on the national voter's roll.
http://news.iafrica.com/features/703456.html
Contentious issue with some people advocating the right to complain whereas those that dont vote are not entitled to.
Would it make any difference been in the minority not voting knowing that your vote wont make any difference?
Irrespective of not casting ones vote but paying for the very services you are entitled to and not receiving them do you still have no rights to complain?
Since then your council has been taking decisions on electricity delivery (read here how municipalities sell you Eskom electricity), your sewage and sanitation, storm water systems (did your roads flood during the last heavy rains?), refuse removal, firefighting services, the decisions around land use and the management of parks and recreational areas.
Your vote in the municipal elections decides who is in charge and who manages the staff who ensure that municipal services are delivered.
Policies, by-laws and the local budget are first approved by the municipal council before being put into effect. What your immediate neighbourhood looks like is also determined by the council as it makes decisions on development plans.
If you don't vote, you can't rightly complain about poor service, can you?
How the voting system works
In South Africa you either live under a metro council, a local council or a District Management Area (DMA). The different authority structures require slightly different voting procedures.
You will vote for proportional representation within your municipality as well as for an individual from a party.
Proportional representation (PR) allows you to vote for a party and the party is allocated seats according to the percentage of votes it gets. Candidates for the seats are drawn from a party list. Since all the votes are counted, and all of them count, this system helps to protect smaller parties.
South Africans mostly fall into metro and local council voters.
Metro council voters get a PR vote for the council as well as a vote for an individual council member.
Local council voters get two PR votes, one for their local council and another for their district council.
District management area voters get a PR vote for the district council and a PR vote for the DMA.
Now you know what your vote means on the day and why you should vote, here’s how to ensure you're registered to vote and what to do about it if you're not.
Register, or at least check you are registered
Voter registration is coming up this weekend (5, 6 February). The Independent Electoral Committee allows you to check if you're registered by SMSing your ID number to 32810 (normal rates apply) or calling them toll-free from a landline on 0800 11 8000.
Alternatively go to their website and fill in your ID number.
To find out where to register, navigate to the contact page on the elections.org website and use the drop-down bar under Provincial and Municipal offices. Alternatively enter your street or suburb in this search bar.
This weekend, head to your registration office with your green ID book, or a temporary ID. Once you've completed the necessary paperwork, you will have your ID book bar code scanned and get a registration sticker to paste into your ID book. Your registration will be automatically updated on the national voter's roll.
http://news.iafrica.com/features/703456.html
Contentious issue with some people advocating the right to complain whereas those that dont vote are not entitled to.
Would it make any difference been in the minority not voting knowing that your vote wont make any difference?
Irrespective of not casting ones vote but paying for the very services you are entitled to and not receiving them do you still have no rights to complain?
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