Somewhere in this edition, you will find a quotation by a former US president, Thomas Jefferson, who once observed:

Somewhere in this edition, you will find a quotation by a former US president, Thomas Jefferson, who once observed:

"We in America we do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

Indeed for democracy to be effective, it requires that as many as possible of those who are eligible to vote, do so.

It is one way of ensuring that the other famous democracy quote, also by an American president, Abraham Lincoln, that it is a "government of the people by the people for the people" becomes more than just a hollow slogan.

Political parties have spent millions of rand in their campaigns. The Independent Electoral Commission has done its work. The state's security complex has done well to ensure that where there were tensions these were contained and not allowed to spill over.

It is now up to you to make your mark and become part of a majority who partake.

A lot has been made about those abstaining having no right to complain. We beg to differ. They do. It is their country too.

The beauty of democracy is the right to exercise a choice among many. Those who won't be voting are making a choice, albeit a poor one.

We vote because we care for our country and its future.

Tomorrow we have an opportunity of taking the future of our beloved and tortured country into our own hands. It is not a privilege, but a patriotic duty. We owe it to our freedom to be eternally vigilant.