Open Letter Dear Friend the time is drawing near South Africa’s first non-racial democratic elections an historic event for which many have sacrificed their lives fighting struggling and dying is just a few months away.
Yet a terrible tragedy threatens to overshadow this achievement.
Millions of black South Africans men and women are saying they will not vote because they do not know how or what an election means.
As a Canadian with a long history of democracy this may sound incredible to you but this tragic development is testimony to the evil legacy of apartheid and suppression in South Africa. Decades of South Africans with little more than hunger poverty and disease Of the 21 million
potential voters who will be eligible to vote on April 27, 1994 approximately 17 million will be casting their vote for the very first time in their lives.
The daunting task of educating millions of these first-time voters falls to those of us in the democracy movement. Current government processes are not equipped to deal with voter education and registration.
That is why 1991 established a voter education drive for first time voter’s right across the political Spectrum through workshops videos touring plays television and radio-broadcasts and street booths.
A special Matla Trust project in the Western Transvaal aimed at reaching women voters is presently the focus of a $150000 fundraising drive by Voter Education South Africa Canada (VESAC).
I urge you to support VESA in this vital effort to bring voter education to rural women who are some of our country’s most isolated and marginalized citizens.
Canadians have stood with us through the years of our Struggle for justice and democracy in South Africa. I am calling on that friendship again now at this critical point in South Africa’s history.
Time is running short. We have just a few months left to ensure that all South Africans have the knowledge they need to exercise their hard-won right to vote.
I encourage you to send your donation today to Voter Education South Africa Canada (VESAC). Please stand with us the South African people one more time in our quest for peace and freedom.
Nelson R. Mandela President African National Congress
Article extracted from this publication >> April 1, 1994
