by Thabile Sokupa

South Africa is set for unprecedented voter turnout in 2009, with more than 21 million people – nearly a quarter of them, the youth – registered to vote in the country’s fourth democratic election, to be held in April.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) announced that a record 1.6 million people had taken part in its voter registration drive over the weekend of the 8-9 of November 2008. Out of these newly registered voters, 1.2 million are in the 18 to 29 age bracket. Far from being politically apathetic, as is often claimed, it seems South Africa's youth are redefining the way they engage in a democratic society, by seeking to play a direct role through the electoral process. 

Many political analysts believe that this new interest in participating in the elections is largely a result of political developments in the country. These have included the replacement of former president Thabo Mbeki with current President, Kgalema Motlanthe and the formation of a new political party, the Congress of the People (COPE), by a breakaway faction of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Barack Obama’s successful election campaign in the US may also have something to do with it – particularly in kindling interest in voting among previously apathetic young people. The election of America’s first black – and relatively young – president may have inspired the youth to believe democracy can actually work.

“We have seen how the Obama strategy enticed younger voters to enrol to vote, and our politicians have clearly not employed this (in the past), but current political developments seem to have encouraged the youth to vote,” local political analyst Steven Friedman told the Sunday Times newspaper.

One of the biggest challenges facing current political parties in South Africa is the way to capture the youth vote, particularly since this constituency has been known to be the “king makers” in some political parties. The ANC conference in Polokwane for example bears testimony to this.

Here, the ANC youth league played a critical role in installing populist, Jacob Zuma as the president of the ANC.  However, capturing the youth vote at the national elections will largely depend on how the different political parties articulate their youth agenda in the 2009 elections.

Past surveys conducted by the Human Science Resource Council (HSRC, 2004) showed that 84% of youth were not members of political parties and were sluggish in coming forward to register as voters.  Backing off from the democratic process became an indication of the cynicism that young people felt about politics and the people involved.  However, new research shows signs of renewed interest in politics among the youth. Surveys show that the youth have new ideas about many things and are not as polarised as the older generation.

In a recent study, for example, it was found that the notion that young people have stopped participating in politics may have been "over-simplistic and a premature conclusion". More likely what's happening, says senior researcher Dr Saadhna Panday, is that the nature of their participation has shifted.

Most probably, it was a case of the youth being more interested in "issue-based and voluntary participation" as opposed to "political and formal membership". They say today's youth participation has expanded far beyond typical activities like, say, canvassing on behalf of their political party. They are more likely to volunteer at their local clinics or work with NGOs – activities which are directly linked to issues affecting their lives.

On the other hand, "the massive registration of young people in the November 8 and 9 2008 registration window periods proved that young people are ready and will vote in their numbers in the coming elections," said ANC Youth League spokesperson Floyd Shivambu. He further elaborates that the youth are "very aspirant, daring and innovative", but are limited by a lack of opportunities – as well as information.

But perhaps it is the political parties that are information-deficient. According to the outcome of recent discussions conducted by the youth research agency ‘Instant Grass’, the study found young people "did not feel that political parties had a solid understanding of the youth". Young people are truly living in exciting time especially owing to the multiplicity of choices available in the form of political parties. However, relevance and context is still lacking as parties struggle to woo young voters.

Indeed the cited research reports suggest that this year’s election holds some wonderful opportunities of breaking past political moulds. Perhaps the major missing ingredient though, is that not many political parties’ leadership has enough charisma, talent, great oratory powers and contextual relevance to the concerns of the youth.

In addition, most parties are also much too infatuated with themselves and are rather self-indulgent and pay little attention to the youth electorate. More attention is focused on internal fights or tired old arguments between opposing factions. Equally so there is clearly still a yawning gap of youth leadership within the political parties themselves; young people still desire for that progressive youth force in the different political parties that will speak to their needs.

One ought to remember that young people are the largest interest group in society. However, when it comes to elections it seems that they are stakeholders holding few political dividends. From an observer’s point of view, young people have become increasingly restless for opportunity and eager to claim their space, but the institutions of democracy have seemingly conspired against them. It is a danger to democracy that young people are not considered – directly or indirectly – as anything other than a liability to democracy. Besides their vote, the youth are the most active come election time.

They volunteer to put up posters and conduct door-to-door voter drive campaigns. Unfortunately, the youth have also been used for dirty campaign tactics like political violence, intimidation and harassment.

Although participation in elections is only one measure of civil participation, many young people in South Africa for example still do not know who their ward councilors are, as well as the exact nature of councillor’s roles and responsibilities.

Yet, the councillors ought to be the most accessible elected political leaders, but what we see is the constant squabbling for positions by political parties. How do we benefit from this as young people?

Young people are, in many ways, under siege: marginalized by adults and the elderly from decision making processes, faced with the prospect of health threats from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, denied employment and blamed for the increasing level of crime and violence.

They are at the mercy of political proprietors who take it upon themselves to interpret and decide what citizenship entails for young people. An added dilemma for democracy is that the majority of young South Africans are women who live in rural areas and are subjected to all forms of gender inequality.

Those in politics may do well to look beyond previously covered terrain to provide a vision for the
youth, a vision that unites young South Africans across divides and a vision that provides the social cohesion that is so desperately needed by the young electorate.

References
www.hsrc.ac.za
www.instantgrass.com
www.elections.org.za
www.thetimes.co.za

The Transformer Vol. 15 No. 2 Apr-May 2009