By Selloane Ntshonyane
- The IEC recorded 2.9 million voter registration transactions on 20 and 21 June, with young people making up nearly 80% of all new registrations nationally.
- Gugulethu Dube, a Grade 12 learner at Musi High School in Soweto, says all parties promise delivery but once in power they look after themselves and their comrades.
Nearly 380,000 of the people who signed up to vote this weekend were between 16 and 29 years old. That is almost eight in ten of all new registrations.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa recorded 2.9 million voter registration transactions across the country on 20 and 21 June. Of the 477,174 people registering for the first time, 379,767 were young South Africans. The numbers suggest a generation that has not given up on democracy. What many of them have given up on is the people asking for their vote.
Gugulethu Dube will cast her first ballot at the local government elections in November. She is in Grade 12 at Musi High School in Soweto, and she registered this weekend. She knows how the process works. She does not know yet who she will vote for.
“I know how voting works, but I don’t really see the impact it has on us,” she said.
Every party, she says, makes promises before an election. Once they get into power, they look after themselves and their comrades. That pattern is what makes her uncertain.
What worries her most is what comes after school. She has watched older siblings and friends finish matric with good results and still spend months, sometimes years, looking for work.
“Honestly, the future is something I am worried about. I have seen people with very good marks struggling to find jobs because unemployment is so high,” she said.
Youth advocate Tebogo Suping says frustration like Dube’s is being mistaken for indifference. Young people are not disengaged, she says. They are paying attention, and what they are seeing is not encouraging.
“The declining voter turnout among young people is often misunderstood. Many young people are living with unemployment, poverty and poor service delivery. Voting starts to feel like a broken promise rather than a tool for change,” she said.
Suping says political leaders need to stop making promises and focus on creating jobs, improving local services and opening real opportunities.
“Trust cannot be campaigned for. It must be built through municipalities that work and deliver services to communities,” she said.
The IEC has announced a second registration weekend on 1 and 2 August for anyone who still needs to register or update their details before November.
Pictured above: Young South Africans registered to vote in large numbers this weekend, but many say unemployment and broken promises are making it hard to trust the process.
Image source: IEC/Facebook Page
