The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)’s electoral officer in KwaZulu-Natal, Ntombifuthi Masinga says about 40% of KwaZulu-Natal youth who are eligible to vote are not registered on the voters roll.
Masinga was speaking at the uMfolozi TVET College at Eshowe in the province’s Midlands.
Launching its provincial civic and democracy education campaign aimed at tertiary students, the IEC says they want to ensure that all South Africans, especially young South Africans, who are eligible to vote are registered to do so ahead of the 2024 general elections.
However, some young people in KwaZulu-Natal say empty promises by politicians in the past have discouraged them to participate in elections.
Masinga says, “We have seen that we are not seeing great numbers amongst young people that have registered to participate in the elections looking at the percentage of young people that should be on the voters roll we have a gap of about forty percent of people that are eligible to vote but are not even registered so our message is that get yourselves on the voters roll whether you have decided you are voting next year or not but by getting registering now you are leaving your choices open because once the voters roll close you will not be able to register which means you are depriving yourself of an opportunity to participate.”
Potential youth voters, Zilungisele Zulu and Jabulile Cebekhulu, say they are keen to vote in next year’s general elections, and they explain why.
“In terms of voting, we are really interested because at the end of the day, we are not only students but we are the youth of South Africa so that is why we need to go and register to vote so that we can raise our voices because voting is the only way in South Africa that you can raise your voice you cannot only go to the roads and throw stones and shout that is not raising your voice but you can only raise it by just go and vote. Because, at the end of the day, we want to see some of us be there in parliament. Voting is very much important to us as young people. It will help us to change the economic system so that it will be able to offer us more job opportunities.”
‘Empty promises’
However, others don’t share their views. Mbalenhle Mthethwa and Sicelimpilo Cele say they have been discouraged by empty promises made by politicians during previous election campaigns. They cited the country’s high youth unemployment rate as being a major concern for them.
“I do not see the need to vote anymore, there are a lot of unemployed graduates, I am speaking about people who were promised job creation if they vote, but that never happened, I fear I am also going to become a statistics as well after I have completed my studies. I don’t think it is important to vote anymore because politicians make empty promises while campaigning but once elected they do not deliver on their promises.”
Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande also adds his voice to the IEC’s campaign, urging young people to register to cast their vote.
“A youth that doesn’t participate in voting today may not have the future that s/he wants because you shape your future by what you do today. You also shape your future by the way you do not do. Because what you do not do when you are supposed to do is going to create a kind of South Africa that you do not want we have many challenges in South Africa we know we got high youth unemployment but in the end, we will be able to solve those by having young people going out to vote and vote for the political party of their choice that they actually think is going to serve their interest better.”
The IEC cautions those who might opt not to register to vote, that should the voters roll close, they will miss out on participating in next year’s elections and allow other people to elect a government on their behalf.
