Predominantly negative response to “Vote No Campaign”

On Tuesday, former intelligence minister, Ronnie Kasrils, and former deputy minister of health, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, launched a "Sidikiwe Vukani! (We are fed up, Wake up) Vote No" campaign, encouraging voters to either spoil their ballots or vote for small opposition parties other than the DA.

In response ANC’s spokesman Jackson Mthembu, has labelled the campaign “counter-revolutionary” and “reactionary”, SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande has referred to former party members who were part of the campaign as “factory faults” and President Jacob Zuma himself has described the campaign as "very funny thing", SABC radio news reported on Wednesday.

According to a Mail & Guardian report, teacher union Sadtu said voting was a "hard-won constitutional right...A call for a no vote by Kasrils and crew is a vote of no confidence on democracy and a call of no confidence on law and order... This call is in fact against the establishment of a government and as such a call for anarchy," read a Sadtu statement. According to SAPA, justice minister Jeff Radebe has referred to the campaign being led by some ANC stalwarts as “absurd”, adding that the call to spoil ballots “undermines the sacrifices made by opponents of apartheid”.

In an open letter to Kasrils, former minister in the presidency, Dr Essop Pahad, urges him to “re-think” his position saying “I do not believe that a hostile anti-ANC campaign will contribute to assisting the movement to correct the mistakes and take steps to fight corruption, factionalism and disunity in the ANC and the Alliance... The ANC, notwithstanding serious problems within it, remains the most effective instrument to bring about fundamental change and transformation in our country.”

Independent Newspapers reported on Thursday that the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has requested a legal opinion on the campaign for voters to spoil their ballots. The IEC noted the electoral code of conduct prohibits inducement or rewards to, among others, not vote, or to vote in a particular way (in this case not for the ANC).

However Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy, Steven Friedman, argues in a Business Day article, re-printed in People’s Assembly, that “contrary to some responses over the past few days, spoiling a ballot is an entirely democratic decision... spoiling a ballot is a greater contribution to democracy than staying at home, as it signals that voters value taking part in the democratic process even if they can’t find a party to support”. Friedman goes on to say that because it is not clear whether a ballot has been spoilt by mistake because a voter did not know what they were doing or intentionally, spoiling a ballot will be ineffective. He points out that this may be why India has introduced a NOTA or "none of the above" option on its ballot.

In a thought leader column in Mail & Guardian activist and playwright Mike van Graan argues “The circumstances in which a spoilt ballot might make a difference would be if our system allowed for the percentage of spoilt ballots to be reflected in the relevant number of empty parliamentary seats. In other words, if 10% of the votes were actively spoilt in a ballot form option that provided for “None of the above parties”, then there would be 40 (out of 400) empty seats in Parliament, and parties would be allocated the percentage of votes won out of the remaining 360 seats. Such an option would allow the electorate to express their rejection of the available party options, to serve as a daily reminder to those in Parliament of a constituency that is watching their actions and even to save money on parliamentary seats!”

In a recent SACSIS article Rhodes University lecturer Richard Pithouse maintains that the ‘Vote No’ campaign is elitist and not rooted in a popular organisation. “It is a move on the part of a dissident elite, some of whom have drifted into the kind of dubious version of left politics that takes the form of bussing in poor people to attend NGO meetings over which they have no control and pretending...this…constitutes movement building. But while this campaign is located at a considerable organisational distance from the struggle on the streets, our public sphere is very much an elite space and people of the stature of Kasrils and Madlala-Routledge have a genuine capacity to shake it up.”

Whatever people decide to do at the polls on 7 May, it is important to remember that they have the right to vote free from interference and that the decision about whom to vote for or whether or not to spoil their ballot is ultimately up to the individual.

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