Election Time Poem by Jabulani Mzinyathi

cast the first vote in the ballot box
the vote of your conscience
cast that in the ballot box of your mind
only then can we sit at the same table
only then can we blissfully wine and dine

got no time for the smoke screen
got no time for the legitimising
the legitimising of the illegitimate
got time for real people power
got no time to kneel before mammon

when securocrats grab people power
through wanton breaking of limbs
and the extirpation of lives
then count me out of polling stations
got no time for legitimising the illegitimate

legitimising the blatant emasculation
the theft of the people's power
that i can never condone
cast the ballot of peace and justice
in the ballot box of your mind