South Africa's version of RuPaul takes on politics in 1999 elections
By Suzanne Pardington
This article appeared in the San Francisco Examiner in May of 1999.
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In the months leading up to South Africa's first all-race elections five years ago, voter education specialists came from all over the world to teach first-time black voters -- many of them illiterate -- how to put a mark next to the face of the candidate of their choice.

Now, just two months before a presidential and legislative election many experts say is more important than the first, South Africa's best hope to get out the vote may be Evita Bezuidenhout, a nationally-celebrated drag queen.

The flamboyant Afrikaner matron recently concluded a three-week tour of 39 South African towns, performing 60 free stand-up comedy shows that also informed audiences on how, when and why to vote. The tour was so popular, speakers broadcast the show to overflow crowds outside the theaters. The rest of the nation could follow Evita on her tour via early morning radio broadcasts from each town, and those who missed her performances will be able to see them this month on South African TV.

"It was to put across very simple things," said Evita's creator and alter ego Pieter-Dirk Uys. "That the vote is secret, that the vote is sacred, that if we don't have a good second election we won't have a third one, that children are terribly important in this election because they will be the next election, that there are many choices and that choice is one of the great things of a democracy."

As President Nelson Mandela prepares to hand over power to a new president (expected to be Deputy President Thabo Mbeki), many South African voters, especially the younger generation, seem disillusioned with what government can accomplish.

Five years ago, Mandela's party, the African National Congress, campaigned with promises of bringing jobs, housing, water, electricity, roads and economic development to communities forgotten in the half-century of Apartheid.

While progress has been made in many areas, crime and unemployment are worse than ever, opposition parties seem more focused on criticizing the ANC than creating their own policies, and new registration requirements have led to lower voter registration numbers. In 1994, 86.9 percent of eligible voters turned out at the polls, but the Independent Electoral Commission estimates that 65 percent of eligible voters will cast their ballots this year.

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