The Chicken or the Bribe?

I wonder how God feels about bribery?  I guess it is only a sin if you are not a card carrying member of the ANC - If this makes no sense to you, then you need to read this post.

We have local elections coming up in the near future, and it seems that certain councillors are trying very innovative ways of winning votes.. Gone are the days of campaigning to your community.. No more will they stand up in front of the crowds and declare their beliefs and points of understanding!  How antiquated the thought of telling the people how you want to help them.. or how you plan to improve their lives..No no, these are methods that are clearly not winning votes.. So.. the question is, how are the "fee pass into Heaven" ANC going to win votes?

That's easy... lets bribe the people with chicken.. "One Chicken One Vote" is the new slogan for our leading party!

"Community members are up in arms in ward 60 in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, over claims that councillor John Thaba gave out chicken packs, money and alcohol to win votes in Sphamandla informal settlement. At least eight community members confirmed the chicken bribe claims.

Thaba would neither confirm nor deny the allegations levelled against him. “You can put it in the newspaper; it is not going to make any difference. I am still going to be a councillor. I can’t say whether they are lying or not,” he said, ending the call.
An employee of a major retail shop in the area said: “People came here with big trolleys and bought all the chicken. There was nothing left.”
A community member warned that councillors are taking advantage of poor people. After Sphamandla residents were fed chicken on the evening of January 8, they were then transported in a truck to a local school where they voted in favour of Thaba, said a source.
An elderly woman said her neighbours received chicken portions. “JT (Thaba) fed these people.”
A community leader said the gogo sitting in front of him on voting day unknowingly blurted out the chicken bribe scandal. “I overheard this old woman saying, ‘is he (Thaba) the one who gave us chicken yesterday’. She was not aware that it was supposed to be a secret,” the leader said." News24.com

All joking aside, I am absolutely disgusted by this story...

This man is using this community's most basic need against them - instead of helping them.  The people living in this area live in poverty.  They often do not know where their next meal is coming from.  And here is this man bribing them with food to get their votes!

I cannot blame this community for taking the bribe - if I were not able to feed my boys, if they were going to bed hungry most nights, and someone offered me a bag of chicken in exchange for my vote, I would take it in a heartbeat..  It would be very easy for me to sit here and judge and say, "but don't they understand that if he is willing to use bribery now, imagine the kind of corrupt behaviour he will exude once in power?"  He is focused on power.. nothing else.. but do you really think that matters to the mother of hungry children?

I know I am not alone when I say that I long for a party I can believe in.. I know that nobody is perfect.. and that there are underhanded things that happen in every area of politics to a greater or lesser degree.. I just wish I could find someone (or a party) who I can at least have some faith in..

Show me the light.. show me the way... Where can I make my X and feel proud of the choice I have made?