Why do ballots still come with bullets, three decades into democracy?

The recent attack on DA ward candidate Kayzel Forbes's home in Kariega has once again thrust the grim reality of political violence into the national spotlight ahead of local government elections. More than three decades into South Africa's democracy, bullets continue to accompany ballots as rivalries escalate into coordinated bloodshed.

Examining the crisis through anthropological and criminological lenses reveals that election violence has become a normalised ritual, driven by the criminalisation of politics and internal party contests. Breaking this destructive cycle demands rigorous scrutiny of candidate selection processes and decisive criminal prosecutions rather than superficial condemnations.