Looking back, thinking about the youth of 1976, it becomes apparent that we are one lucky generation.

Yes, we may have a number of social problems, which range from unemployment, crime, drug abuse, HIV/Aids and more, however, we have much more peaceful yet powerful means of addressing our issues.

The year 1994 demonstrated the power we have as a nation. It was when thousands of South Africans stood up and went to the polls to make their voices heard.

They did not shout or fight to be heard, they used a very small yet powerful tool of mass construction, the pen. It was that year we discovered the power of X, which brought us where we are today.

The same thing occurred in 1999, 2004 and 2009, respectively. It is the year 2014 and we know our struggles and what we want. It is up to us to stand up and fight to be heard and recognised as the youth.

What young people do not understand, is that their struggles or victories largely depend on their decision to vote or not to. I have heard young people say they are not voting because “kuyafana nje”.

No akufani, and it will never be the same, and many times the people who say this are the ones who never voted at all.

Last week, I tried out the electoral commission’s SMS service where all you do is send your ID number. What a convenience. Within a minute, I received a reply containing my voter-registration details, and now I know that I am registered, but my voting station still reflects the province where I last voted.

I am sure that since their national office has launched, it will soon launch in our province. In the meantime, you can SMS your ID number to 32810 which will cost you R1.

I sincerely plead with all young people to go out in numbers and register to vote, because the more young people vote, the more parties will remember the strength and spirit of 1976 still exists.

As youth we still have that power to bring change in this country. One thing I can tell you is that the youth makes up the majority of our population, and trust me on this, all political parties understand that in the youth, lies power and change.

So the more young people vote, the more political parties will pull up their socks and work hard to provide youth specific services that will appeal to the youth even beyond elections.

I advise all young people to not only vote for parties and then go home and sit and wait for change, because if you give people power and not mandate them on how the power should be exercised, you will find yourself in a compromised situation which you can only change after five years. It is nice to say to people,

“I have voted for you, please make sure I have shelter and a decent job”, then it makes sense.