A leading academic has lamented the manner in which many South African voters fail to punish their local governments by voting for opposition parties during the recent elections. Speaking at the Sowetan Dialogues held at the University of South Africa (Unisa)‚ Pretoria‚ Professor Kealeboga Maphunye said the electorate in South Africa tended to abstain rather than punish a government for its mistakes.Maphunye‚ Research Professor and Chair in Electoral Democracy at Unisa‚ said that in many communities‚ voters chose to burn tyres in the streets rather than casting a vote to remove a government which had failed to deliver services.He urged voters to take their right to vote seriously and use it to both "reward or punish" the government."If you do not use your right to punish‚ one day you will lose that right‚" said Maphunye.The dialogue is discussing if the August local government elections were an indicator that the ANC would lose power in 2019.- TMG Digital..