With youth unemployment in SA sitting at an unprecedented 64%, political parties have ramped up their campaign messaging and manifestos to focus on youth issues.
According to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), youth aged from 16 to 29 account for 402,401 of new registrations, or almost 25% of the total new registrations. The IEC said more than 1.7-million voters registered during the special two-day registration weekend on September 18-19.
Political parties, in an effort to gain more support from their youth base, are also engaging more closely with youth leaders across all platforms, including social media, to lure younger voters to the November 1 polls.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa told Business Day that the ANC’s “silent-type” campaign run at community level was youth inclusive to ensure a bigger turnout of young people at the polls.
The ANC’s manifesto speaks to job creation for first-time entrants into the labour market, skills alignment to jobs and internships, learnerships, bursaries for the youth and a higher number of youth candidates at municipal level.
“We have been pleasantly surprised to find that many of the people who participated in those community meetings came in large numbers. They came to select those people who they would want to see as their candidates,” said Ramaphosa.
“We have been present on the ground during a lot of election work [and] we were this time pleasantly surprised to find that young people registered in their greater numbers. It means that we’ve been able to energise young people to come forward.”
The DA says it is engaging more young people than in any previous election.
“Our manifesto, which was launched on September 25, focuses on the issues young people care about such as jobs, education, health, the environment and safe and reliable public transport,” said DA national spokesperson Siviwe Gwarube.
“The youth can be a powerful force in shaping the political environment and challenging the status quo. Our commitment to young voters is reflected in the representation of young people in our governments and the opposition benches of parliament, legislatures and councils across the country,” she said.
The DA has also expanded its presence on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram to encourage young people to cast their ballots.
The EFF has many young people who are influential in the national discourse, from Fees Must Fall activists to those who once led student movements, said EFF parliamentarian Sinawo Tambo. The party has a robust social media presence among its young voters.
“We established a higher education and youth elections committee to ensure there is maximum participation of the youth in these upcoming elections and had an extremely successful voter registration campaign to curb youth voter apathy and, of course, to ensure young people participate in the political sphere which dominates their lives,” Tambo said.
The committees were constituted to ensure “total victory” for the EFF in key areas. The EFF included consultations with the youth, and this has shaped an approach to building people-orientated municipalities, he said.
IFP Youth Brigade national secretary Mlungisi Mabaso said the party reiterated during the launch of its manifesto that it values the youth and wants to give them a seat at the table, creating opportunities for them to contribute and raise issues that concern them. The IFP has one of the youngest MPs, one of the youngest mayors and some of the youngest councillors in SA.
“The IFP is passionate about skills development, bursaries, resources and training, to encourage self-help and self-reliance. We want to give young people a hand up, not a handout, so that they can play an active role in building the future they dream of,” he said.
“The IFP Youth Brigade is a vibrant and active party structure and, together with the South African Democratic Students’ Movement, they constitute the next generation of the IFP.”
As the official opposition in KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP is intensifying its effort in the metros, including eThekwini, and extending its footprint beyond KwaZulu-Natal to the Johannesburg metro and Western Cape. The party expanded its social media offering for young people with the addition of TikTok and Instagram to its existing Facebook platform.
University of KwaZulu-Natal political analyst Sanusha Naidu cautioned that the new youth voter registrations will not necessarily translate into votes for parties.
“Voter apathy in the 18-29 age sector is high given the high unemployment rate. The elections are about local issues and while one or two parties will benefit from a higher voter turnout in the metros, the overall figures are comparatively lower than the actual voting population.
“The numbers before the IEC mask the reality of what is happening on the ground. We have to look beyond the figures. November 1 is a public holiday and a long weekend, so it will be interesting to see what the young electorate does and whether or not they will come out to vote,” she said.
According to Stats SA, youth aged 18-34 constitute almost a third of the country’s population, with 9.04-million males and 8.80-million females. Almost 30% of the youth reside in Gauteng and 19.4% in KwaZulu-Natal. With 4.7% and 2% respectively, the Free State and the Northern Cape have the lowest proportion of youth of SA’s provinces.
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