The general election on Wednesday - the fourth since the end of apartheid - is gearing up to be the most interesting poll since 1994.
The splintering of the ANC, the emergence of Cope and the re-launch of the Democratic Alliance have caused the political landscape to change recently. Record numbers of South Africans have registered to vote and the electorate has started to move away from voting based on past allegiances to voting for a party whose policies they support.
As Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna says, these elections are a true watershed in our political process.
"The infant democracy introduced in 1994 is now, perhaps, transformed into a more mature and tested system. The euphoria of 15 years ago is replaced with a sense that it is one thing to attain democracy, another to maintain it."
As Hanna says, "the right to vote (is) no longer a cause for celebration (as it was in 1994), but perhaps the wider political choice that faces South Africans now is."
While the ANC is expected to win the elections, the key issues will be a) whether the ANC secures the two-thirds majority that would enable them to unilaterally change the Constitution and b) who will emerge as the official opposition: Cope or the DA. And will these two opposition parties form a coalition after the election to be a stronger opposition force?
No political party is perfect, and most fall desperately short of even getting close to reaching this ideal, but in a democratic system, they're all we have. In a free electoral system, the power is indirectly held by the citizens. The power that the political parties are entrusted with is given by us, the voters. And we only get to exercise this power every four years.
As citizens of a democracy, we are all called upon to vote. Vote for a party or vote against a party. Vote with your head. Vote with your heart. Whatever you do, just vote.
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Stumped on who to vote for?
News24 has collated policy information about eight political parties' policies that is designed to help interested voters identify which party or parties best meet their expectations. To read News24's A-Z of Party Policies, click here.
Take the Mail&Guardian's Vote Predictor quiz.
Steuart has done some 500 talks on South Africa's progress since 1994 and SA's prospects for the future' 
