Vote worth fighting for

FIFTY-ONE years ago yesterday 69 Sharpeville residents were mowed down by apartheid security forces while protesting against the hated dompas.

A few days later another 20 people were killed in Langa, Cape Town, also protesting against apartheid's pass laws.

Yesterday South Africans paid tribute to those who paid the ultimate price, fighting the evil system of apartheid.

As most speakers on Human Rights Day said, it was through their sacrifices that South Africans today enjoy the rights enshrined in our Constitution

But, as the Council for the Advancement of the South Africa Constitution has correctly pointed out, there remains a huge gap between what is contained in the Constitution and the reality faced by the majority of South Africans, who continue to suffer the ravages of unemployment and poverty.

The biggest tribute South Africans can pay to the victims of the brutality that the apartheid regime visited on black people is to ensure that the gap is narrowed down and eventually closed.

This can be achieved by, among other things, ensuring that in the coming elections we put into office individuals who are driven by a commitment to serve their communities.

These should not be individuals who are driven by the hunger for power and a desire to use their positions as a route to self-enrichment.

It was through the sweat and blood of those who fell in Sharpeville and Langa that we today have the right to vote.

It is important we use that vote to fulfill their dreams for an equal and just South Africa.