South Africa has problems convincing youth to vote

DW (English)

Only around half of eligible young people registered to vote in South Africa's elections scheduled for May. Many say they have lost trust in the political system.

Transcript

00:00 Siboni Sokulu will be voting for the first time in South Africa's upcoming election.

00:08 His generation never experienced apartheid.

00:12 They're the so-called "born free".

00:16 Despite this, the 22-year-old feels trapped.

00:20 "What makes people upset is that the more the people vote, the more that one party wins.

00:29 I want to see if we vote for another party, will there actually be change?

00:37 Because with this party that we have, I don't see change."

00:43 He's worried about his job prospects and says the government isn't doing enough to provide

00:49 basic services.

00:52 "Education is one of the things that needs to be addressed here.

00:56 Children are learning in this container school, they need proper schools.

00:59 We only have one clinic in this area and its services are large area.

01:03 So for this large area, there's one clinic, one high school and one primary school.

01:07 We really need to see some change in this area."

01:12 Young people may hold the key to this year's election.

01:17 But less than 50% of potential voters under 29 have registered.

01:24 There are an estimated 14 million young South Africans who are eligible to vote in the 2024

01:30 national election.

01:31 If all of them were to register and turn out on election day, they have the potential to

01:36 completely change the political direction of the country.

01:40 However, with over 300 registered parties, many young South Africans don't know where

01:45 to place their mark.

01:48 Kulu recently participated in a voter education session organized by a local NGO.

01:56 Here he could speak openly about his frustrations with the government.

02:03 "Politicians keep stringing us along.

02:06 They keep running away from us."

02:10 The organization believes that getting young voters to think about their own needs can

02:15 make them feel more involved.

02:18 "It's important that voters are having conversations amongst ourselves about what this election

02:23 means, how we're going to vote, why we're going to vote or not vote.

02:26 I think we spend a lot of time focusing on the political parties, but it's not their

02:30 election.

02:31 It is our election as the voters of the country."

02:34 Kulu now sees the power of his vote.

02:39 "These conversations need to happen more often.

02:43 The more they happen, the more the pressure will shift from us to the government to change

02:47 the economy."

02:49 The ruling ANC government has had three decades in power.

02:54 But young people like Kulu don't have the same historical ties to the party as their

02:59 parents did.

03:01 And they feel let down.

03:04 Their vote could bring about the biggest political change in post-apartheid South Africa.

03:09 (crowd chatter)

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