The Youth Won’t Vote

On the 29^th and 30^th of April 2019, Rhodes university held a public deliberation on the upcoming elections. The main topic of discussion in the room was the concern of why so many young people, especially between the ages of 18-19 are not eager or interested to vote. The topic struck many interesting reasons from the young people in the room as to why voting does not appeal to the youth of South Africa.

When raised with the question, ‘why is the percentage of young people who are registered to vote so low?’, Mr John Flint expressed that “There is nothing that is interesting me to vote for any party, nothing that speaks to my struggle as a young person today, I have not seen any party that specifically speaks on issues that would interest me’’. Many of the other young people agreed with Mr Flint’s statement.

Another young woman expressed that none of the parties have any policies that speak on the climate change issue that is happening at the moment. She voiced that it is a pressing issue that young people will have to deal with in the future, and none of the parties have touched on the real issue of climate change.

There were other young people however that explained that is the youth that expresses no interest, that no party is perfect and that the youth is playing into the hands of the media’s portrayal of the different parties through the news and social media. Another young person said that as the youth of South Africa are not relating to the issues that are actually happening as they come from more privileged backgrounds and social groups.

When asked if there is less pressure on first year university students to find employment than there is for third year or fourth year students. Some of the young people conveyed that the amount of pressure is the same, that we as young people are all competing for jobs that are not available to us. That none of the parties have actually given the public their strategy on how they will create jobs for the future in South Africa.

Listening to the concerns of the young people who were in the room on the 29^th and 30 of April. It is clear why most of them are not planning to vote. They feel like they do not belong, like none of the parties provide solutions and that they are not being validated. So the concern is ,what will the Parties of South Africa do to get young people interested enough to vote for them, or will it be an endless cycle of the youth being voiceless and uninterested?.