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Why ongoing civic education is critical

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Paul Kariuki
Paul Kariuki

The May 8 general elections have come and gone.

Citizens came out in their numbers and expressed their democratic right to choose the political parties that they felt represented their aspirations and vision for the country.

Some voters struggled with their decision, finding that no one party comprehensively captured their interests; nevertheless they voted.

Now the real work begins – of rebuilding a fractured society and mending fissures created by the intense campaigning of the past three months.

It is imperative to note that the onus of rebuilding the nation rests on all of us working collaboratively with government at all levels of governance.

However, there are more specific tasks for each segment of our society, which must be done to realise a just society as envisioned in our Constitution.

Firstly, government is tasked with a significant load of responsibility in delivering on all its promises made to the nation during the campaigning season. Fighting corruption in all of its forms must remain at the forefront of the new administration.

The various commissions are making significant inroads into the various webs of corruption that invaded and controlled the public sector in the past decade.

Citizens and civil society must actively advocate proactive measures from the state to follow up on every exposé and take decisive action towards those named as active agents of corruption.

This is pivotal in rebuilding trust in government.

Moreover, the new administration will be held responsible for addressing local issues that featured prominently in every campaign engagement with political parties throughout the country.

Poor basic service delivery remained a serious talking point, in some cases with communities deciding to abstain from voting.

The sense of despair and hopelessness eclipsed the realities that the power of a vote carries when a citizen decides to exercise their democratic privilege.

The new administration must resume office with a renewed sense of urgency and address all the issues that citizens brought to its attention during the campaigning period.

Failure to act decisively and deliver satisfactorily may affect its popularity come municipal elections in 2021.

Given the outcome of this year’s elections, the governing party understands that its devoted base is shifting its attention and loyalty is no longer guaranteed.

Secondly, civil society must invest intensely in democracy and voter education to continue educating citizens about the importance of voting.

Approximately 26 million voters registered for the elections, but only 17 million people cast their votes.

According to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), the voter turnout dropped from 73.48% in 2014 to 65.99% this year.

The question is: Are South Africans losing interest in elections?

The comprehensive answer to this question lies in more than just the numbers. However, those numbers do tell a story.

Voter turnout is dropping and that needs to be addressed urgently. Moreover, greater attention needs to be directed towards young people, given the low numbers of young people who registered to vote.

According to the Parliamentary Monitoring Group, the number of 18- to 19-year-olds that registered on the voters’ roll this year was 341 236, compared with 646 313 of the same age group that registered for the 2014 elections.

This implies an almost 47% drop in the number of teenagers eligible to vote in this years’ elections. Furthermore, the number of 20- to 29-year-olds also dropped from 5.7 million in 2014 to 5.2 million this year.

While the reasons for the drop are unclear at this stage, one thing is clear – this demographic needs special attention as far as voter education is concerned.

In doing so, voter apathy among young people is highly likely to be reduced.

However, it will take concerted efforts from all election stakeholders, that is, the IEC and political parties, to work together with civil society in addressing this situation.

Thirdly, political parties must work more closely together this time around than ever before. The nation cannot afford another five years of political parties talking past each other.

There must be a sincere desire from all parties to keep their individual interests aside and serve citizens as they promised during their campaigns.

They must act definitively against all forms of maladministration in the country, even among their own ranks where the opposition is in leadership.

By doing this, they will be entrenching and deepening a culture of accountability in the public service.

Political parties and their leaders must demonstrate that they take citizens’ concerns seriously and are willing to address them in tangible ways.

They must be willing to engage with citizens in meaningful ways to foster productive partnerships among themselves, thereby shifting power towards the citizenry rather than their headquarters.

Now that the elections have come and gone, the real work of rebuilding the nation commences and must continue.

While voting is one of the ways through which citizens hold their leaders accountable, ongoing civic education is critical in ensuring that the citizenry is aware of its responsibility and it cannot afford to despair.

Furthermore, citizen-led activism must be continuing, supported by civil society and other stakeholders such as the chapter 9 institutions, to ensure that the new administration delivers on its promises at all levels of governance, especially at local administration level.

This is a litmus test that local governance has to pass gearing up for the 2021 municipal elections.

Kariuki is the executive director of the Democracy Development Programme, a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Durban

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