The FW De Klerk Foundation this week unveiled a practical guide on how to register to vote. The digital handbook, titled ‘Whose Responsibility is it Anyway?’, is the first of three resources compiled to encourage civic participation.
Besides explaining why elections matter, the civic handbook explains how each voter can wield the power of their vote in the upcoming municipal elections. It outlines the registration process as the first step towards fulfilling one’s civic duty.
“The democracy we have is meant to be a participatory democracy,” said Ismail Joosub, manager of constitutional advancement at the FW de Klerk Foundation, in a recent interview with Salaamedia. “The citizens we have are meant to be active citizens.”
One of the reasons why people abstain from voting is because they do not know how to. In 2021, for example, there were more people who stayed at home than those who voted. The guide is meant to correct that.
“We’ve got two problems here. One [is] a problem of failing municipalities. On the other hand, we’ve got an army [of youth] who are not adequately equipped with the civic knowledge, to become active citizens and take control of their destiny,” he said.
Last weekend, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) conducted a countrywide voter registration drive. With 477 174 individuals added onto the voters roll, the number of registered voters now stands at 28.5 million. It remains to be seen how many will participate in the municipal elections scheduled for 4 November.
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Image via IT Web.
