Evita Bezuidenhout has been involved in many elections since 1994. The 18th May Municipal Election has inspired her to tweet the nation, which she does every day. Here are some of her focus points which she shares through Evita’s Peoples Party.

@TannieEvita: 18 MAY IS A LAST CHANCE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS. THERE WON’T BE ANOTHER CHANCE. COMMIT YOUR OPINION AND VOTE.

Let me start with the bottom line: if we don’t deliver this Municipal Election of 18 May we will lose our country. Let me repeat the details: if we don’t fight the cancer of corruption with the chemo-therapy of democracy, we will lose South Africa to a morass of third world chaos of which we have seen enough in our continent elsewhere to understand the sound bite.

@TannieEvita: A MUNICIPALITY IS THE ENGINE ROOM OF EVERY COMMUNITY. MAKE SURE WE GET THE BEST ENGINEERS OR ELSE WE WILL HIT ICEBERGS AND SINK. VOTE 18 MAY.

Municipal elections are boring. They are not glamorous. Who are these people on those lists anyway? Why should we bother about the street sweep or the garbage collector? Come on, we’ve got other things to worry about.

@TannieEvita: WHY MUST WE BRIBE TATTY INCOMPETENTS? RATHER PAY SALARIES TO GOOD PROFESSIONALS. THEY WILL WORK FOR US. VOTE FOR THAT 18 MAY.

Evita’s Peoples Party was launched in 2009 to bolster that General Election purely in terms of information. Not the important details we receive from the IEC or those politicians we expect common sense from, but the small talk that South Africans have become accustomed to from me.

@TannieEvita: VOTERS AGED 18 WERE BORN AFTER MADIBA WAS FREED. THEY HAVE NO SENTIMENT ABOUT THE STRUGGLE. THEIRS LIES AHEAD. SO DOES OURS. FIGHT CORRUPTION WITH YOUR VOTE.

That information about voting is still essential. I have met too many people who are scared to vote for what they believe in – i.e. an alternative to established corruption – but say they will be punished if they don’t vote for the obvious. Too few believe the vote is secret. There are various members of political parties going around and warning the populace that if they don’t vote for their party, they will be punished.

“We will know.”

How will they know? I don’t know. This is something we must take on trust. The vote is secret. Believe that and allow yourself to commit your vote. It will help in the next few days leading up to the 18th May if we inform as many people about the fact that the vote is secret.

Businessmen, talk to your staff. Factory managers, inform your workers. Get people to help you. A television star who can manage those four words clearly can probably do more than a government official.

@TannieEvita: YOUR 18 MAY VOTE IS SECRET. YOUR DETERMINATION TO CHANGE THINGS IS OBVIOUS. YOUR PASSION CAN BE CATCHING. TWEET THE NATION TO GET READY TO ACT LIKE DEMOCRATS.

Don’t be shy to invent your ways to inform. Use Facebook. Explore the Internet. SMS. Twitter and tweet. Phone. Film with your cell and put it on YouTube where you can rerun the rubbish politicians say and make it the fun-clip of the month. Look at the delight “Don’t touch me on my studio” brought to us all.

@TannieEvita: WILL YOU SIT IN OZ ONE DAY IN EXILE AND HEAR YOUR KIDS ASK: ‘WHY DIDN’T YOU VOTE IN THAT 2011 MUNICIPAL ELECTION?’ DECIDE NOW.

I have been pushed into Twitter. Not that I don’t want to, but as an elderly icon, I tend not to be bothered with things I don’t understand. I still can’t run a Betamax machine, even though some say it’s now VHS. Other say it’s gone digital. When in doubt, ask your nine-year-old grandchild!

@TannieEvita: WE LIVE IN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS MAKE OUR DEMOCRACY WORK. THE FUTURE IS CERTAIN.  IT IS JUST THE PAST THAT IS UNPREDICTABLE. VOTE ON 18 MAY AND MOVE ON.

When my son gave me a Blackberry, I realized Black Berry was not the name of a Zimbabwean gardener. Now even my own horticultural supervisor has one. And how quickly it has changed my life. It never stops peeping, worse than a small baby wanting its bottle. The secret is to put it on silent and then check when you have time. Nothing is that important. And yet I now know those in Japan that had their cell phones on silent, didn’t get that vital five minute warning on Twitter: “RUN!!!”

@TannieEvita: IF AFTER 18 MAY THERE ARE NO BASIC SERVICES, ONLY YOU ARE TO BLAME. BECAUSE YOUR VOTE COULD HAVE CHANGED ALL THAT. SO VOTE.

Some of my Twitter-twaddle has been just to wake people up. Others have been in the sound of a scream. Most are just to remind the world that in spite of a full program of just catching up with life, pause for a moment to think: What do I want?

@TannieEvita: HOW MANY MUNICIPAL WORKERS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A LIGHT BULB IN YOUR STREET? DEPENDS ON YOUR VOTE ON 18 MAY.

What do you want? A future? A life? A family? An old age? A country? If we cannot stamp our imprint of need on the government of our country on 18 May, we will not have another chance.

@TannieEvita: MALEMA WANTS TO NATIONALISE THE MINES. LET’S NATIONALISE MUNICIPALITIES ON 18 MAY - AND MAKE THEM WORK FOR ALL. VOTE WITH CARE TO CURE.

I am an old Nat. I voted for apartheid. I didn’t know it was bad, because we thought God was on our side. I now find out Gadaffi and Mugabe think the same – and even Osama Bin Laden, but in his case, too late. I used to think the same. Now I wonder if God isn’t having the last laugh. But voting is not just about faith. It’s about the future.

@TannieEvita: SOMEONE SAID: HYPOCRISY IS THE VASELINE OF POLITICAL INTERCOURSE. SOMEONE IN THE ANC WAS LISTENING. THEY EVEN GOT THAT WRONG. VOTE FOR HONESTY.

I have three black grandchildren. And I need to underline that word ‘black’ because no one wants to believe me. (Actually they are more Barack-Obama-beige.) They believe that democracy will make their dreams come true. And so I through my political beliefs, having withheld democratic rights from the majority of South Africans for so long, owe it to them to protect the fragile fabric of our system of fair play.

@TannieEvita: A FOLLOWER COMPLAINED THAT I KEEP ON SENDING OUT THE SAME MESSAGE ABOUT 18 MAY. THERE IS ONLY ONE: VOTE. I’LL REPEAT IT TILL YOU DO.

The vote is secret. It is sacred. It is universal. Use it.

@TannieEvita: MANY OF YOU SAY: ‘IT’S JUST MUNICIPAL. NO BIG DEAL!’ STRONG LOCAL GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS GOOD DELIVERY. IGNORE THE FOUNDATIONS AND YOU LOSE THE LOT!

There are some very fine members of the ANC who are treasured for their vision of a non-racial future for all. There are great members of the DA that hang in there in spite of the sour grapes from the rivals. There are some pretty fine old rubbish lurking in the fringe parties of extreme, be they religious, ethic or just stupid. 18 May means find the good people and help them help us.

@TannieEvita: IF ANC STANDS FOR A NICE CHEQUE AND COPE IS TWO HALVES OF NO WHOLE, WHAT’S LEFT? ZILLE, DE LILLE EN HULLE!

I repeat: we will lose our country if we don’t do our jobs as citizens on 18 May. The many many many South Africans who died so we can vote will not forgive us. We will also not have another chance to use our voice. The world has shown that it is only really interested in a democratic solution if there is oil. We have no oil.

@TannieEvita: LEAVE THE COOKIE JAR OPEN FOR POLITICIANS TO PLUNDER. IT’LL KEEP THEM OUT OF OUR WAY WHILE WE RECLAIM OUR COUNTRY ON 18 MAY. VIVA HONESTY!

We also have no tsunamis, no earthquakes, no tornados, no snowstorms, no volcanoes, no hurricanes; we just have politics.  Sort it out! Get involved. Stop moaning and being a victim. Get your act together. Read. Ask. Listen. Think. Plan. Decide. And get out there and vote.

@TannieEvita: ZUMA SAYS A VOTE FOR THE ANC IS A VOTE FOR GOD. EVITA’S PEOPLE’S PARTY BELIEVES A VOTE FOR DEMOCRACY IS A VOTE FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S FUTURE.

@TannieEvita: STUDY THE ANC LISTS. FIND THE ROTTEN APPLES. POINT THEM OUT. OR JUST FIND ANOTHER PARTY. AND THERE ARE.

@TannieEvita: IF A PARTY CAN’T DELIVER BASIC SERVICES AFTER 16 YEARS OF PROMISES, IT STOPS BEING A PARTY. IT BECOMES A WAKE. SO WAKE UP ANC!

That’s all we have: our vote. And now I know, after all the years in the wilderness of prejudice and racism, that democracy has no colour, no creed, no religion and no taste. It embraces us all.

@TannieEvita: IF WE ALL NOW SMS 10 PEOPLE, WHO EACH TWEET 20 FOLLOWERS, WHO PHONE 30 FRIENDS - AND INSPIRE THEM ABOUT 18 MAY, IMAGINE THE DIFFERENCE.

Get on with it, South Africa. It’s over to you. Those who call themselves servants of the people are trapped in a government for the people, of the people and by the people who sometimes obviously don’t give a damn about the people.

@TannieEvita: POLITICIANS WORK FOR US. WE DON’T WORK FOR THEM. REMIND THEM ON 18 MAY.

We are the people. If the people lead, the government will follow. Lead on 18th May 2011.

@TannieEvita: GET UP. FIND YOUR ID BOOK. RUSH TO A POLLING BOOTH. GET EXCITED. MAKE YOUR CHOICE.

And when it’s all over and the celebration makes way for the reality of today, pick up your black bag and start cleaning up the mess. Nothing is going to be easy. The tsunami of corruption has left a turmoil. Learn from the Japanese and start building from scratch. The difference is: now we’re in charge. If we bothered to vote for it.

@TannieEvita: OLIVER CROMWELL WON CONTROL OF ENGLAND IN 1645 BY ONE VOTE. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR POWER. USE IT!

Follow Evita’s daily inspirational bytes on Twitter: @TannieEvita
Visit her Facebook page.
Also www.evita.co.za
(and www.pdu.co.za but don’t tell Tannie!)

PS: EVITA’S BLACKBESSIE (Umuzi R180) is now available in all bookshops. The essential back-up for that moment when your cellphone is stolen, lost, broken or useless. Ook in Afrikaans beskikbaar as EVITA SE BLACKBESSIE.