On my recent trip back to South Africa for my father's funeral, I realized that my homeland is no longer my home. While it is true that my family are there and that they are a very strong tie to the land of my birth, I also have a family in Taiwan now that draws my heart back here when I am away. I own a house here, have a good job and many great friends - a life.
And yet, I am South African and will never be Taiwanese. I love braaivleis, boerewors and biltong, I support the Springboks, the Proteas and whatever South African team is playing in any international competition (with the exception of the soccer team, which sucks), I celebrate Christmas by not working while everyone else around me does and I think as I always have and cannot bring myself to behave in the conservative and superstitious way that most of the Taiwanese I know do.
It was therefore with some pride and excitement that I went to Taipei on 15 April to cast my ballot for the South African General Election. It wasn't so much that I thought my vote would make such a huge difference to the outcome, which by preliminary numbers it hasn't and Jacob Zuma is unfortunately going to be president of my country by a large majority, but rather that I felt I was participating in a vital process of being South African. I may have relocated to Taiwan, but as long as I am not a citizen of this country, I am excluded from its political processes. My vote therefore, was a statement of belonging as much as it was a hope for my motherland.
After the election official verified my details and checked that I was registered to vote as an Overseas South African, I went into a conference room that they had set up in the South African Liaison Office in Taipei as a voting station to vote. I was given a colourful ballot paper with the 26 national parties listed on it and an envelope in which to place my ballot after I had voted and then directed to an open cupboard where I made my X, put the ballot in the envelope, licked the sweet sticky glue on the envelope flap with some enjoyment, as Taiwanese envelopes don't come with glue on them and, with a smile, handed my sealed ballot envelope to the official.
I was proud of myself - proud of the effort I had made to register to vote, to travel to Taipei to cast my vote and proud that through my vote I was taking a stand against the inevitable.
Dion Marc Delport
22 April 2009