The government urged to use innovation to counter voter apathy
JOHANNESBURG – The City of Johannesburg's Speaker of Council discusses voting under Covid-19 with the youth.
High unemployment among the youth, gender-based violence and a lack of opportunities were some of the reasons young voters are not going to the polls.
These were some of the frustrations shared by young people during a virtual engagement that was organised by the Speaker of Council, Nonceba Molwele, on September 8.
Molwele had organised the engagement, named ‘Elections under Covid-19’, as part of a voter education campaign ahead of the November 1 local government elections. She acknowledged that Covid-19 had forced the City and the government to relook at how it operates under the new normal.
“Local government consists of municipalities, which are really at the coalface of service delivery. We now need to closely look at what it means to hold local government elections under the pandemic,” said Molwele.
Dr Thina Nzo, a senior researcher at the Public Affairs Research Institute, said the current pandemic has forced the government and political parties to think out of the box ahead of the elections. “Political parties and independent candidates must come up with innovative policy suggestions.
“This must also be seen as an opportunity to confront the frustrations among electorates, especially youth. The youth are looking for manifestos that will change their social and economic landscape in their cities.”
Nzo added that voter apathy was a world-wide phenomenon and South Africa was not an exception. She implored local government and the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to use social media to engage the youth.
Siyabonga Thwala, an SRC representative at the University of Johannesburg, said young people were disillusioned and felt their voting doesn’t change the status quo. “Young people want to know what transformation their voting will bring in their lives. We have the highest unemployment, especially among young people.”
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