^{From the editor}

30 years later, is a thriving democracy another dream deferred?

man in yellow blazer and blue denim jeans smiling

Drum editor Mbali Soga pens her thoughts about this year's elections.

My very first memory of an election was 1994. I was not of voting age yet, but I remember the excitement and rumblings in the air. It was so palpable you could feel it – optimism, anxiousness, excitement.

My parents (in their late early 30s then) were an inspiration and very involved in uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK). They got up at the crack of dawn that day, I remember staying awake and excitedly watching them as they paced around the house with determination. They left that morning dressed in black long leather jackets, resembling members of the Black Panther. They had volunteered to be part of the election committee.

I couldn’t wait to grow up, get my green book ID and get voting. I would be a part of history – even if it wasn’t to stop apartheid but to be a part of a growing and thriving democracy. Decades later, a thriving democracy seems like a theory.

It's 2024. We're heading for possibly the most important elections we’ve had since 1994. As a country we stand on the precipice of overriding a “democratic” party that carried the torch for black South African’s liberty.

We’ve carefully curated our election hub to arm you with all the information you need to know as well as give you insights on this year’s elections – from opinion pieces from industry leaders to documenting the forgotten communities in the country as well as giving you a platform to be heard.

I believe as South Africans we are a dynamic and resourceful and resilient people. It’s time to stand up and be counted.

This election year, I implore you to get up from your chair, put the phone down (because Twitter is not going to save us) and take a physical stance for the future of our country.

If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for your children and the many generations to come.

See you at the polls!

^Diepkloof

It might be one of the most famous townships of the southern Joburg area demarcated the South Western Townships (Soweto) by the 1930s white government, but it is not as fab as it looks on TV.

With another general election around the corner, residents of Diepkloof, established by the apartheid government in 1959 as Diepmeadow, now only just want to know when they can all have access to basic services such as water, housing, sanitation, and electricity.

It seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same for residents of Diepkloof Hostel, says the leader and Induna of the hostel.

Now they have had enough. And the government seems to have heard them.

These are the stories of the people of South Africa's forgotten communities.

Alex

Who remembers the Manyisa lyrics from the legendary award-winning hip-hop group Skwatta Kamp?

In the hit song, Bozza, one of the best vernac rappers, has a line that goes: “Me and hip-hop, y-iAlexandra nokungcola” (loosely translated: “Me and hip-hip are joined together like Alexandra and dirt.”).

The album with that song was released in 2002.

At the time, the township that is a stone's throw away from Sandton – the richest square mile in Africa – was famously known for being one of the dirtiest townships in the country.

Twenty-two years later that line still hits as a punchline because the more things change, the more they stay the same in Alexandra township, according to some residents.

Alex seems to be the last township to be thought of when services need to be delivered, they tell Drum.