(21 April 2009) It might have been a prank. It might have been a genuine manifestation of a heart-felt dilemma. In any case, the attempt of one young South African to auction off his vote for 2009 general elections on Bob Shop came to an abrupt end today.

“We felt that this auction contravened everyone’s inalienable right to vote and the secrecy of the voting procedure. That is why we decided to close it”, says Bob Shop director Andy Higgins.

The seller of the unusual wares claimed in his online auction listing that he needed help to solve his personal political dilemma. Since he found all the six parties he shortlisted (the ANC, COPE, DA, Freedom Front, IFP and ID) somewhat inadequate, the vote-selling youth, who provided his portrait in the listing, first considered rolling a dice, but then decided to turn to Bob Shop and go with the choice of the highest bidder: “I figure that if someone is passionate enough to bid the highest amount, then that is reason enough for me to go with their choice, considering how undecided I am.”

The bidding for the young man’s vote reached R53 before the auction was closed. It seems that the visitors to this auction – more than 700 of them – were more interested in discussing this unusual “sale” than in acquiring an extra vote in these, by many analysts most important elections in South Africa since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1994. While one visitor urged the indecisive youth to vote “with his head and his heart”, another said: “This is the best I have heard of in a while.”