LET’S RECLAIM THE ENERGY OF APRIL 27 ON OCTOBER 27
HOW do we write the story of our freedom? How do we tell future generations of what happened on April 27, 1994? What picture stands out for you about that day? My favourite picture of the day is of the highly disciplined snaking voter lines at polling stations.
The 1994 elections took place over four days. Voters stood in queues for hours, often stretching over a kilometre long, to vote in the first democratic election.
We must understand how important democratic elections are in South Africa. The last apartheid-era parliamentary elections took place in 1989, and 2 176 481 votes were cast out of 3 170 667 registered (white) voters.
The number of eligible voters in 1994 was estimated at 21.7 million. Just under 20 million voters turned up for that election. In the 2019 national elections, out of 26.7 million registered voters, only 17.6 million voters pitched up to vote.
The results show that the winning party got 10 million votes – out of 26.7 million registered voters. The current ruling party governs with permission of only 37% of the registered voter population. The apartheid-era racist National Party governed with the consent of 68% of the registered voter population in 1989.
Gone are the snaking voter lines that brought us freedom and a 99% voter turnout in 1994. What do we need to rewrite the story of our freedom and to undo the apathy, and lethargy that has embedded itself in the voter’s mind? There are five things that we must urgently address. Firstly, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) needs to reinstate in-person voter education as a priority.
Far too many voters do not register to vote or still do not understand the importance of voting. We are too young a democracy not to have a robust voter education system.
In 1994 many of us were active in voter education, both through the IEC and through non-governmental and civil society agencies.
The second issue that must be fixed are the inefficiencies at the Department of Home Affairs to replace lost or stolen ID documentation. These delays in turnaround times for replacement IDs can result in many people being unable to exercise their constitutional right to vote on election day. Home Affairs must be enabled to issue a unique digital or paper voter ID that is only valid for one election to all voters with lost documentation.
Thirdly, SA’s poor is a very mobile labour force. Many of them do not work in the areas where they are registered to vote. Thus on election day, they are unable to vote. Government must develop a mechanism that allows voters to vote in the district where they live and work within seven days of an election. There is technology that can make that possible.
Fourthly, deal with voter intimidation severely. Several voting districts are flashpoints for intimidation and coercion. Such actions scare voters away from the polls. Deal decisively with intimidation, coercion and violence. Make the right to vote a sacred act, akin to the duties we have towards our deities.
Fifthly, extend the voting days to the four days we had in 1994. Before you spill your morning coffee, look at it from the perspective of the most vulnerable and uninformed voter.
We need a four-day voting week that extends the right to vote to as many people as possible, given the delays with polling stations opening, polling stations running out of ballots and rural voter travel issues. It is common ethnographical knowledge that South Africans will only wake up to the energy of an election if they see it repeatedly on the news, and by the end of day two, they will stream to the polls. We need to feel the election euphoria to dispense with the apathy. It’s the unique South African way.