With the 2024 National Elections fast approaching (release the date, Cyril😒), the youth are the ones to watch.
In a voter registration drive held in November, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) estimated that 78% of all new registered voters were young people between the ages of 16 and 29. This is encouraging news. The youth are showing a marked interest in the electoral process. But will they show up?
A Human Sciences Research Council report released earlier this month has revealed that about 80% of the youth are undecided about voting😱. This, they reported, was not because they did not care but because they did not believe in current democratic leaders and institutions. Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal show the highest numbers of undecided young voters. Corruption, loadshedding and unemployment are the most significant contributors to youth dissatisfaction.
The youth vote is critical: South Africa’s voter turnout as a percentage of those who are eligible to vote trends behind other comparable countries. Isolate the youth vote from those figures, and the turnout is even worse. Just 56% of eligible voters aged 18-29 registered to vote in the 2019 national and provincial elections, according to the IEC. Of those who did register, just 46% turned out to actually cast their ballot. That’s way lower than the national average of 66%.
We should pay attention. A Pan-African surveying organisation, Afrobarometer, released a finding on Africa’s youth from last year that made pundits sit up in alarm. Findings from 28 African countries showed that 56% of Africa’s youth are okay with military intervention if elected officials abuse their power. We need to restore young people’s trust in democracy.
The electorate will be spoiled for choice at the polls next year, but with over 300 political parties contesting the national and provincial elections, let’s hope it’s not quantity over quality. 🙈 In addition to these parties, independent candidates are now allowed to contest elections thanks to the Electoral Amendment Act. There was a bit of drama when a clause in the act said that these independents needed to get the signatures of 15% of the people in the region they were contesting to be eligible to stand for the 2024 elections. The Constitutional Court has declared this unconstitutional and ruled that candidates only need 1000 signatures to run. Some pundits and commentators have called the ruling fair, but it does make for an even longer list of potential spots to place one’s x – further complicating the voting process.
Next year’s election is the first in our democratic history where the ANC could actually be unseated – nationally and in the provinces they govern. Showing up and making an informed choice could mean the difference between a further decline or a desperately needed upswing in our public life. We deserve a fully functioning democracy and state that isn’t marred by corruption and crippling unemployment – particularly for the young people of South-Ah.
This brief is part of our Year That Was 2023 edition. Read the full edition here.
