Desmond is back with the same high level of empathy and insight that you’ve come to expect from the man. The Mail & Guardian’s journos caught up with him for an interview in which he urged South African voters to not be “voting cattle” when they cast their vote in the upcoming general elections. Here are our favourite parts.

I have already said that I will not vote for them; that is something that I have said. And I say it with a very sore, very heavy heart because on the whole they have tended to be close to the kind of things we dreamt about.

Think carefully where you put your X on the 7th of May. As a religious leader, I would say pray deeply and ask God to direct your decision because on where you put your X so much depends. I pray that after May 7, we would all walk tall.

We dreamt about a society that would be compassionate, a society that really made people feel they mattered. You can’t do that in a society where you have people who go to bed hungry, where many of our children still attend classes under trees.

Don’t just say, ah well, I’ve always sung these struggle songs and therefore when I’m going to vote … think!

Think when you’re making that cross and remember that it is going to decide what quality of life you are going to have for the next five years.

[Source : Mail & Guardian]