Honouring Freedom Day while safeguarding democracy

Author: ACTIVATE! Change Drivers

Low voter turnout among young people is due to dissatisfaction with institutions of power, not only voter apathy, according to dialogue within the 4,500-strong ACTIVATE! Change Drivers’ youth network.

Activate is driving youth voter education campaigns and training young people to act as observers in the upcoming local government elections, which will now take place on 27 October 2021, as announced by Government this past week.

Thamsanqa Masingi heads Making Local Government Work and Public Policy for Activate, and is running the Activate civic education programme and recruiting youth volunteers to act as election observers. He says there is a need for civic education to encourage young people to participate in democracy, as it is not taught in school. As South Africans celebrate Freedom Day and reflect on the significance of the day, is important to note, he says, that the fight for South Africa’s democracy did not end in 1994.

Caption: Thamsanqa Masingi

“Activate Change Drivers provides a platform for young people to engage with the principles of democracy and understand how they can get involved in aiding their communities, as well as the processes of the electoral cycle. Activate is also training young people to act as observers in the upcoming local government elections to ensure we do have free and fair elections.”

Masingi says Freedom Day is a day to reflect on the past, the current and the future South Africa. “Democracy is an ever continuing fight to ensure there is transparency; that there is service delivery; that the rights of the most vulnerable are protected in our country; and to ensure we elect people who will protect the rights of the most vulnerable. Freedom Day gives us an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come, what is needed, what is missing, and what we do as a society to enrich our democracy.”

In this election year, where Covid has disrupted much of the usual community engagement and access to democratic institutions; it has also exposed and amplified the challenges at grassroots level in service delivery, poverty, unemployment; as well as the rampant corruption in South African society – from Government to the private sector, he says.

“It is the responsibility of the youth as active citizens play an active role to safeguard our democracy as enshrined in our constitution. It is therefore critical to engage young people, consistently and deliberately throughout the year to find out what they think, know and understand around the electoral cycle. Throughout the month of March, we had youth Activators host ‘My Vote Is(n’t) My Voice’ dialogues. The dialogues are peer to peer focused conversations which will allow us to: provide a platform for youth to engage each other on matters affecting them at a local government level; identify the gaps that exist between young people and local government; get young people’s perspective with regards to the electoral cycle; and amplify the youth voice.

“Local government elections are an opportunity to use your constitutional right to have your say about the last five years and articulate your appreciation or dissatisfaction, through making your mark on election day.

“We need to all participate and ensure we put in representatives that are competent. There are resources for service delivery, they are just not being used correctly. Democracy can be lost if we don’t participate.”

Activate Change Drivers runs a holistic programme that covers all aspects of an election through youth dialogues run throughout the country to get young people thinking about the impact of their vote, and their understanding of the electoral cycle. Activate also records how young people are thinking about elections and youth participation versus youth voter apathy.

“People have lost faith in various institutions, like the Government and the IEC, due to increasing unemployment and corruption. We are a very young nation; the average age is 25-26 years. If you are unemployed and you see all this looting and corruption, it makes you lose faith in the system. Corruption harms the most vulnerable. It is not that the youth are apathetic or don’t care, they are losing faith and are angry,” adds Masingi.

“We want young people to know that their vote is a powerful way to force change; that their vote is their choice, and to ensure that their voice is heard. We need to encourage young people that it is not just about winning, but that their voice can be heard. We want them to articulate their challenges and their hopes and needs,” he emphasises.

Author: Thamsanqa Masingi