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Thabiso Calvert has every reason to be excited about the upcoming local government elections and it’s not because he will be voting for the first time.
The cross this 18-year-old will mark on the ballot paper on Wednesday will be for himself.
Calvert, who turned 18 three weeks ago, is a councillor candidate for the Congress of the People (Cope) in the Letsemeng municipality in Koffiefontein, Free State.
He was registered as a Cope candidate when he was 17.
Calvert is the second-youngest candidate councillor standing for elections this week after Sisonke Jaca of the Economic Freedom Fighters, who is only five days younger and contesting in the Ingquza Hill municipality in Eastern Cape.
Calvert hopes the achievements he’s racked up in his 18 years will score him votes. He says he matriculated at the age of 13. At the same time, he was being trained as a sangoma.
“I did my matric through correspondence schooling. I was very good in school and studying on my own was never much of a challenge,” he said.
He enrolled for a nursing degree after matric. “Now, I am a qualified nurse, a practising sangoma and a businessman.” Calvert runs a funeral insurance business.
So, why politics?
“My mother has always been involved in Cope structures and I have been supporting the party from when I was a child. There is a lot in its manifesto that Cope has to offer for the youth and this is what made me avail myself as a councillor candidate,” he said.
“One other thing is, Cope has contributed financially to my tertiary studies and now I am giving back, not only to the party but to the broader community.”
He said he has been campaigning under the tagline, “Save Letsemeng”.
“Education is key, but it is a problem as it has become unaffordable and I believe in free education up to undergraduate level. We
have discouraged youths who have turned to abuse drugs and alcohol, as well as crime,” Calvert says.
“I have programmes that are aimed at encouraging the youth to look into other options and all this is possible at municipal level through commitment.”
Calvert urged voters to treat local government elections differently from national elections.
“It should be about an individual – their moral standards and what they stand to offer. Vote for the incorruptible and those you can trust,” he says. “I walk into this race with no promises, but armed with programmes that would seek government and municipal support to change lives.”
Cope’s national councillors’ forum chairperson, Vanita Coetzee, confirmed Calvert matriculated and obtained his nursing degree before turning 18.
“He is really an extraordinary person, a multitalented high achiever with a very bright future. Thabiso is very articulate, well informed and I believe it is because he reads a lot.
“But what distinguishes him from the rest is his compassion for people,” she said.
