Editor’s Note: Mark Nehrenz is studying in South Africa for the fall semester.

I sat down in class Monday morning and waited for a lecture on the history of film. The class quieted down and waited for the professor to start.

“Good morning everyone; we have no president.,” he said.

The reaction was mostly laughter. Everyone had either seen South African President Thabo Mbeki’s resignation address on TV the night before or at least heard about it. The class calmed down, and the professor continued.

“It’s quite a historic time people, really.”

Then he pointed to me.

“We even have the international student here to experience it.”

I laughed and raised my fist into the air, jokingly declaring, “Anarchy!”

When the class chatter and laughter calmed down, we continued with our screening of the German expressionist film “Metropolis.”

This, ladies and gentleman, is life in South Africa during political upheaval and controversy: normal and anti-climactic.

The idea of a country in Africa being without a president might conjure up numerous images in the heads of Americans: an all-out genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, recent post-election violence in Kenya, an incredibly unstable Zimbabwe.

Without being here and seeing it for myself, I may have assumed things were like movies about Africa. No president means lawlessness, rioting and fighting in the streets — scenes out of “Blood Diamond” or “Black Hawk Down.”

The reality here is quite different. Citizens are so used to political quarrels that controversy is commonplace. Many people don’t want to hear about it anymore.

As I was eating dinner with South African friends, one explained to me an e-mail he had just received.

It was a picture of Ashton Kutcher standing on top of South Africa.

The quotation: “Dude, where’s my President?”

The reaction of people here speaks volumes about the current state of the country: Some things are positive and some negative.

Let’s start with the glass being half full.

The country is incredibly stable.

The fact that a president can peacefully resign in an African country which has only been a true democracy for 14 years is quite telling.

I want to remind the readers once again that South Africa does not fit the “warring nation in poverty” label that our media often slaps onto all African countries.

I mean, I just got back from seeing “Tropic Thunder” in a six-story mall bigger than any I have ever been to in the U.S.

But, yes, while I’m in malls, I hear conversations like the following one almost everywhere,

“What the (expletive) is going on in our government?”

“What is happening to our country?”

Now we see how the glass is half empty.

The political sphere in South Africa is dominated almost entirely by one political party, the African National Congress (ANC).

The ANC is the party of Nelson Mandela, the party that freed the vast majority of South Africa’s population from the racist apartheid regime, the party that ushered the country into a non-racial democratic society.

Because of this history, the ANC enjoys unparalleled popular support, with no other party currently standing a chance to challenge it.

So in the minds of many South Africans, apathy rules, and there is no reason to vote or get politically involved. The ANC is in charge and will be for as long as anyone can predict.

Though I have met a number of passionate, politically-motivated individuals, I have met more who just throw up their hands and let things be.

Note to Americans: You are incredibly lucky to live in a country in which Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are in a dead heat. The fact that no one will know until the night of the election who our next president is sets us apart from much of the world.

In presidential elections here, you vote for a party, not a person. So, whoever is the president of the ANC becomes president of the country if the ANC receives the most votes, likewise if another party were to win.

Last December, the ANC elected a new party president, Jacob Zuma, but Mbeki remained president of South Africa until his term was to expire, in the spring of 2009.

You can imagine the conflict.

Everyone knew that, come 2009, Jacob Zuma would be South Africa’s new president. Mbeki was still president but was seen by many as a lame duck or a “dead snake.”

What ensued were months of accusing and a high-profile court case accusing Zuma of corruption and bribery in an international arms deal.

To make a long story short, both sides questioned the others’ motives, and the end result was Thabo Mbeki stepping down on Sunday, Sept. 21.

After Mbeki stepped down, so did 14 high-level government ministers who support him.

A moderate interim president, Kglema Motlanthe, has been appointed and will serve until Zuma is elected in six months. Seems a bit complex and confusing right?

Politics in Africa never disappoints in that regard.

I have a hard time figuring out the whole situation even after reading all of the historic newspapers I bought as souvenirs.

So, the moral of the story?

I am not quite sure because the story is just starting. But for starters, you can ask the question, is democracy really democracy if the people don’t even believe they have a choice in who rules?

All of you who plan not to vote in November, you have a month to realize that you do have a choice. Make one.

Mark Nehrenz is a journalism senior. His column appears every other Friday.