“Choose any of the devils. Your vote matters.”
It is an uncomfortable statement. Perhaps even provocative. But democracy was never designed to make us comfortable.

We often approach elections searching for the perfect candidate, the perfect political party, or the perfect leader—someone who reflects every value we hold and promises precisely the future we imagine.

The truth is that such perfection rarely exists. Sometimes democracy presents us not with the choice between perfect and imperfect, but between competing imperfections. Sometimes we are confronted with what people casually call choosing the “lesser devil.”

But here is the principle that matters to me: You still choose.

The greatest danger to democracy is not disagreement. It is disengagement. When citizens become so disappointed, frustrated, or disillusioned that they decide their voices no longer matter, democracy loses something far more valuable than an election—it loses participation.

I was born in Soweto and have lived long enough to understand that the right to have a voice should never be taken casually. I have also spent much of my life carrying African stories onto global stages. Wherever I have travelled, one truth has remained constant: a country’s future cannot be the responsibility of politicians alone. Citizenship is participation.

Your vote is not an endorsement of perfection. It is a poignant expression of urgency. It says: I am here. I am paying attention. I have a stake in what happens next.

And once the election is over, citizenship cannot end at the ballot box. We must continue asking questions. We must hold leadership accountable. We must challenge what is failing and acknowledge what is working. We must demand better institutions, better governance, and better outcomes for the generations coming after us.

Democracy is not a spectator sport. You cannot outsource your future and then be surprised when somebody else decides what that future looks like.

Vote according to your conscience. Vote according to the issues that matter to you. Interrogate the choices before you. Ask difficult questions. Reject blind loyalty. Demand accountability.

You do not have to agree with me. You do not even have to agree with each other. That, too, is democracy.
But participate.

Whether the choices before us are extraordinary, disappointing, or somewhere in between, surrendering our voices cannot become the alternative. Our children will inherit the decisions we make today—and also the decisions we choose not to make.

So choose. Question. Participate. Hold power accountable.

Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake is a world-renowned South African producer, composer, and singer-songwriter best known as the “voice and spirit of The Lion King” and currently based in the United States of America.

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