Image: IEC
Local – Manager of constitutional advancement at the FW de Klerk Foundation, Ismail Joosub, said that low voter turnout is not a lack of care or concern for the country, but a sign that people have stopped believing in the leaders, with citizens most often asking what difference their vote is going to make as the cost of living, a lack of opportunities and crime continue to weigh on households.
Joosub said that calling the trend voter apathy was a simplistic label. He said a space in a voting queue could reflect a loss of confidence in the political agency guaranteed by the Constitution, practical difficulties in reaching a voting station, or a deliberate decision to abstain in protest.
He said repeated disappointment had broken the link people expect between their vote and their lives, pointing to unfulfilled manifesto promises and failing services.
“We see political parties tarring the roads just before an election, knocking on doors for votes just before an election. But we don’t actually see change happening between election cycles. We see corruption around us. We see the absence of consequences for corruption around us,” Joosub said.
Petitioners Rather Than Citizens
Persistent service delivery failures, high unemployment and corruption have left many South Africans feeling that they no longer have a voice that matters. This has fuelled growing frustration with political leadership and political parties.
Joosub said the distance between residents and ward councillors, who are often absent in times of urgency, has left many feeling stripped of their dignity and forced to plead repeatedly for services public institutions are supposed to provide. He said that eventually this frustration becomes a question of whether a resident counts at all, and whether they should vote at all.
“A democracy then weakens when people experience themselves as petitioners for favours rather than citizens with rights. And that’s what we need to speak about, how parties can afford these rights to citizens between election cycles to give them more hope and optimism that the system is indeed working for them,” he said.
Commitments Residents Can Check
Turnout has declined from one election to the next since the dawn of democracy, with young people in particular not coming out in the numbers expected despite the rise of social media. Political parties now face the task not only of winning votes, but of convincing people that their votes still matter.
Joosub said any remedy must be measurable, with candidates publishing commitments residents can check once they take office, being honest about the limits of their power, and clearly stating which parties they would and would not form coalitions with.
He added that residents should be able to trace a complaint to a responsible institution and receive a response, creating a clear link between voting in a local government election and the services delivered.
“What we need is to remedy that trust deficit that I spoke of in the intro. But I need to say that trust grows only when the answer next month matches the promises made this month,” he said.
