Take charge of the future and vote
MANY South Africans have made sacrifices – and some have paid the ultimate price – to give us the democracy that we all enjoy today. Those generations, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude, have played their part. Sadly, some have passed on. Their date has come and gone.
The time has arrived to talk and celebrate this generation’s time and the future. It’s time to celebrate South Africa’s youth. They are the future of this country. They are South Africa’s today, South Africa’s tomorrow and South Africa’s future.
However, as we celebrate, it is important to remind ourselves that while the generations that came before us took arms and did many things to fight for freedom, ours is a different and special task.
Our historical mission is to deepen and grow the democracy in the country. The founding fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters of our nation have bequeathed this historical mission to us.
Our epoch is vastly different from that of the architects of our freedom. But so is our mission. Our biggest struggle is to protect and grow our democracy. In this regard, our biggest and perhaps only weapon is our vote.
However, to be able to vote, you need to have done a few things in compliance with electoral prescripts.
The fundamental step towards voting is enlistment on the voters roll. If you don’t register, you cannot vote, and if you cannot vote, you cannot use this constitutional right. In other words, you can’t play an active part in building a South Africa of your dreams.
The Electoral Commission, as a partner, extends a hand to South Africa’s youth and asks them to join us in nurturing and building our electoral democracy. We do so because we believe in youth. We believe in their amazing ability to build the future they want, just like the great Nelson Mandela did many years ago when he was their age.
Today we start a march, a movement and a way of life. Today, my friends, we are cancelling the nonvoters and making voting hip!
To South Africa’s amazing and powerful youth, we say, today we take charge of our lives and our future!
No one else. No one else should. Only you can!
The digital revolution has provided us with technology that enables us to play a role in the historical mission bestowed on us. In the palm of our hands, at a click, we can do a number of things to build our future, to get ready to vote or to check that we are correctly registered.
It is important that the youth plays their part because research shows that electoral abstention among the youth is a point of concern, but we believe that they can change all of that.
Research shows that those within the age group of 15-34 years constitute more than a third (about 35%) of the estimated population of about 50 million people.
However, during the 2021 local elections, a total of 175206 18-19-yearolds registered, and 124905 of them voted on election day, giving us a voter participation rate of 71%.
This is far above the average turnout of 46%.
Therefore, once registered, young voters do participate in large numbers.
The commission has, together with Wits University, launched the Civic and Democracy Education campaign.
The primary aim of this campaign is to cultivate and instil a culture of electoral democracy and active citizenry among students in both the public and private institutions of higher learning, to enhance voter registration and voter participation in SRC elections and in national, provincial and local government elections.
It is our firm belief that engaging students’ views about democracy and elections through voter educationbased dialogue will enhance voter participation among this particular group of the electorate population.
To ensure continuity, those who win during these debates will be invited to speak in our thought leadership webinars on electoral democracy.
In addition, we will be conducting targeted Civic and Democracy Education interventions on campus using face-to-face and multimedia platforms to reach out to the entire student population.
The campaign was officially launched at Wits University, but it was intended for, and will be rolled out at, all tertiary institutions.
We therefore encourage all students to play an active role in this campaign and participate in the activities that have lined up for them.
This campaign will run until the end of September, with each month’s activation coinciding with national commemorative events across all our nine provinces.
Let us join elbows today – not hands because of Covid-19 protocols – and build our future.
Let’s start now, today and build today, tomorrow and forever! As the great Nelson Mandela, who was once your age, said: “It is in your hands”.