ISSUES AT STAKE: Why we always vote on Wednesdays

Ever wondered why the country always holds general elections on a Wednesday?

I have, and the answer was given to me at an election media conference in Jo’burg earlier this year.

It’s because weekends would impact on Monday and Friday voting. Citizens would simply make a long weekend of it and stay away from the polling stations.

More so, if voting was on a Tuesday or Thursday, absenteeism on the Monday or Friday would render the nation’s already low productivity ethic to virtual zero with a four-day weekend.

Nope, we don’t need much of an opportunity to bunk work and would waste no time arranging a trip to Mozambique or Sun City.

The IEC in its wisdom knows that a Wednesday would see the best possible attendance at voting stations. Not that many won’t simply make this a midweek holiday with no thought of making their mark.

Although nowadays regarded as an urban myth, there was a long-held belief in the motor trade that it was unwise to buy a car that had been assembled on a Monday or Friday – these being the days of highest absenteeism, apparently rooted in past poor relationships between unions and management.

The truancy was linked to weekend parties and hangovers and today, I suppose, one would add weekend weed consumption.

In theory, with more workers absent, poorer work was delivered and there were short cuts on the assembly line.

Cars would then be delivered with more flaws and increased chance of later breakdowns.

As an aside, consumerism journalists years ago spoke out on how manufacturers in all sectors not only conspired to make people want more, but also deliberately made stuff that would not last too long.

And they did it with amazing accuracy: some items with a two-year warranty packed up after two years and one day.

But to get back to the car assembly line story, do yourself a favour and listen to an old Johnny Cash song about the guy who worked at the Cadillac plant and over a long period of time stole every car part, smuggled them out and built his own Caddy.

The song is called ‘One piece at a time’ and humorously describes his ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’54, ’55, ’56, ’57, ’58’ 59′ ’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, ’64, ’65, ’66, ’67 ’68, ’69, ’70 automobile.

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