Women get ready to raise their voices

As South Africa goes to the polls tomorrow, 10 years after the introduction of democracy, five women tell Sheila Killian what politics means to them

'South Africa deserves better" - the Democratic Alliance slogan is on every lamp-post for the elections in South Africa, usually accompanied by Tony Leon's stiff smile. As leader of the front-running opposition party, he campaigns for a place not in government, but in opposition.

That explains much of the apathy surrounding this election. Opposition parties such as the Democratic Alliance make sweeping promises of a million new jobs, or free AIDS drugs for all, knowing, as everyone knows, that the ANC will remain in power for the next 10 to 20 years. There's an air of anticlimax about it all. The euphoria of the first free vote in 1994 has dissipated, and no uncertainty or excitement has yet come to take its place.

Ivy de Vos (36),  worked as a banker in Port Elizabeth for 10 years before starting to teach. She's a mother of two, capable, articulate, unapologetically political. She votes because she believes one vote can make a difference, and sees the two main issues as AIDS and housing.

"They say crime is a major issue, but it's not new. Before, we had crime but it was 10 black people being raped instead of one white, and it wasn't reported."

She supports the ANC because she lived through apartheid, and wrote her exams in segregation, under police guard. She uses a banking metaphor for the change since 1994: "I look at what the apartheid government has done in terms of deficits, and I see how the ANC have repaid those debts. Maybe the previous government got things done as well, but they were not things for me - they were things for the white man."

She is glad that women have more opportunities now, but does she see a need for more of them to be involved in politics in South Africa?

"I don't think so - look at Patricia de Lille, at Winnie Mandela! The women in politics here are a joke."

Val Searle (60),  is an administrative assistant from Grahamstown. She has two children, although since her son's family moved overseas, like many young professional whites, she hasn't seen her grandchildren as often as she'd like. She claims to have no interest in politics, and says she really doesn't care about this election at all, but will vote, feeling "more or less compelled to". She does so without much hope, however.

"Nothing changes" is a recurring answer to questions on the role of women or the major issues of the election. She is a keen supporter of the ACDP (African Christian Democratic Party), a niche Christian party led by the Revd Kenneth Meshoe, which hopes to govern the country along biblical lines.

Asked if the position of women has changed since 1994, she doesn't hesitate: "Definitely not! I certainly haven't seen any difference. There may be more women in higher positions, but nothing has changed for most of us." She cannot imagine that this election will change life for women in any way, and despairs of the ANC.

Georgina Booi (46), also a grandmother, inhabits a different world in the Location, or township just outside Grahamstown. She works for minimum wage as a domestic, and looks askance at being asked who will get her vote. For her there is only one party. She's voting ANC because "I will want a pension, a house for my daughter, a road into the Location. I need a flush toilet."

The list of basic but unaffordable needs goes on. She credits the ANC with the introduction of social insurance for low-paid workers. This is a big issue for Booi, as it means she is no longer totally dependent on her employer: "No one can say to me I must leave my job and I have nothing."

Rape and crime are not abstract issues for her. "They are coming to the houses where I live, kicking down the door and shooting. They are raping." She sees hunger on a daily basis, but says women's lives have improved a lot since 1994, citing her own one-room house provided by the government. She smiles for the camera, and asks for a copy of the photo. She didn't have a photo of herself before.

Candice Mullen (30), a mother of two, is a university lecturer from Johannesburg. It is important to her that the election is free and fair - that the rituals of democracy are observed, even if there is no change in government.

She describes herself as "not a big women's libber" feeling that the government is addressing women's issues well.

Rather to her own surprise, she sees the ANC is the best of the political parties on offer. Nevertheless, she will vote for the Democratic Alliance, because she feels that any political party "particularly in Africa" needs opposition.

She feels the position of women has changed "tremendously" since 1994, especially in the area of representation on the boards of schools and charities. This election will not change that, in her view. If she could do one thing to make the lives of South African women better, she would introduce capital punishment for rape and murder, feeling that vulnerability to sexual violence is the biggest problem for women today. She doesn't see the need for more women in politics.

"We already have a big presence, specifically black and coloured females," she adds. "I'd like to see the other races, white and Indian, better represented."

Mmaditshipi Seageng (41), is a librarian from Ga-Rankuwa in the Northwest Province, now working in Johannesburg. She is a single mother, whose daughter has just started university.

She sees this election as part of an ongoing process that goes beyond the borders of South Africa, and talks about an African renaissance in visionary terms, anticipating "the emergence of a just world order in favour of the billions on our globe who are poor and marginalised".

Like many others, she identifies rape and violence against women as serious issues for the incoming government.

She says that these have been discussed for a long time, but "their miseries expect an answer today rather than tomorrow". She would like to see many more women in parliament in South Africa, as CEOs of firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and being able to resist gender violence.

South Africa, she hopes, can transform itself and become a model for the rest of the continent.

She sees her vote in this context, a contribution to "the renewal of Africa and the construction of a new world order of equality among the people and a shared prosperity". She supports the ANC.

The ambiguity of the Democratic Alliance's slogan has not escaped cynics.

"South Africa deserves better" . . . than what? Than Tony Leon? Than the government? Than this election? All of the above, perhaps.

Still, as Booi says: "They [the ANC] told us things would change. But 10 years is a short time. Little by little, things are changing."

Sheila Killian is a lecturer at the University of Limerick, currently on sabbatical at Rhodes University in South Africa. She is also co-founder of http://www.sowetoconnection.org