Despondency was the only outright winner in these local elections
Despondent citizens are uncertain about whether South Africa’s political parties will stay true to the promises made in the run-up to the 2021 local government elections. History largely suggests otherwise.
Only 28% of those eligible to vote did so in the 1 November vote, translating into a number of just 12.1-million voters. In the Western Cape, where 3.1-million people registered to vote, heavy rain hindered people from going to the polls.
Apathy also played a role, with many people not seeing the point after being let down by political parties they had supported in the past, said Steve Ross, cofounder of Inspire Network, a nonprofit organisation in Elsies River on the Cape Flats.
“They actually felt that they had been abandoned. Totally desolate. So it doesn’t matter if they were against somebody or for somebody. The vast majority of our people are not interested in politics because they don’t see it as something that’s going to benefit them in any way,” he said.
Khanyo Maxakana, aged 30, participated in the previous municipal elections in 2016, but withheld his vote this year because, he says, he quite frankly did not know which party could be counted on to deliver on its promises.
Maxakana is a sound engineer but is currently unemployed. He doesn’t like sitting around so he volunteers most of his time to a local church.
The ruling ANC does not keep its promises and “others don’t show what they will do when they come
into power”, Maxakana feels, adding that he does not have a sense of which party would be able to deliver basic services to his township of Gugulethu in the City of Cape Town.
Prey to crime syndicate groups such as the so-called “Boko Haram” and “The Guptas”, the Gugulethu community has to endure largescale extortion, drug-related crime and theft, to name just a few scourges. It also has a high unemployment rate, leaving households impoverished and dependent on local government for basic services.
Maxakana’s demands for a wellrun local government are simple: visible policing, the maintenance of roads and job opportunities.
The young man, who describes himself as “not into politics” is also tired of political parties that only
rock up to woo communities in the run-up to elections, only to disappear for the next five years.
Situated 13 kilometres from Gugulethu is the suburb of Elsies River, home to a predominantly coloured community. Here, many households also carry the marks of poverty and drug and alcohol abuse while multiple gangs operate on the streets. This leaves Elsies River, too very, much dependent on the services or lack thereof of local government.
Inspire Network’s Ross, a resident of the area, voted on Monday. “I believe that democracy only works if the majority of people actually vote and those that lose actually accept the results,” he said, adding that “there is power in a vote” and his involvement in politics enables
him to understand the political landscape.
Ross is an active community member who, despite working full-time as a general handyman, invests his time in empowering communities in the Western and Eastern Cape provinces. He believes a community that works together can achieve more and his involvement has opened his eyes to how local governments operate — or should operate.
“I have a better understanding of what is the dilemma of political appointees and candidates and I have some understanding of the process of politics,” said Ross. “The rhetoric that’s being used [by politicians] is not conducive to building a nation.”
Ross is disappointed that the majority of people who comment
about local governance and other issues on social media are those under the age of 35 years, “but the majority of them are not even registered to vote; they don’t know they can vote”.
Around 445 000 people aged 18 to 29 registered to cast their vote in the local government elections in the Western Cape, according to data from the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
Ross says the general ignorance around the importance of elections benefits political parties, which, he believes, are “not very keen to educate our people”.
“Uneducated or ignorant citizens are what any political party longs for, because then they can fool the people [with their rhetoric],” says Ross.