Queuing to vote the right thing to do: Motlanthe
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe stood in the voting queue for about an hour before casting his vote, a gesture he said was ‘the right thing to do’.
|||Johannesburg - Former president Kgalema Motlanthe on Wednesday stood in the voting queue for about an hour before casting his vote, a gesture he said was “the right thing to do”.
Motlanthe, who was flanked by his wife Gugu, Johannesburg African National Congress mayoral and ward candidates Parks Tau and Rossalin Chinsamy, stood in the long queue at Killarney Country Club for about an hour before he could cast his vote.
Speaking to journalists, Motlanthe said that this was an important day which demanded active citizenship from all registered voters to partake in the polls in order to elect their own local government leaders.
“Local government is important because it represents the whole phase where government and communities interact, so it’s important for all registered voters to come out and cast their votes” Motlanthe said.
Asked why he had chosen to stand among other voters in the queue and not as a former statesman, Motlanthe quickly quipped about leadership.
“That’s the right thing to do. Even when we speak with our candidates we normally emphasise the point that no one should ever allow protocol issues to push them to the head of the queue,” Motlanthe said.
“We shouldn’t ask others what we are not prepared to do ourselves.”
While he was speaking, an unidentified white male heckled Motlanthe, shouting “how do you sleep at night?” before he was unceremoniously removed from the voting station premises by bodyguards.
Motlanthe simply ignored the protester, saying he had a right to express his opinion.
“That is part of his democratic right, it’s his opinion and we can only respect that right.”
Motlanthe said that he was confident for a positive outcome for the ANC, but it was now in the hands of the voters to decide.
“As public representative and as a governing party, we must always strive to do what is right and leave the rest the voters to assess and judge us on the basis of our performance.”
African News Agency