POINT OF ORDER | Democratic principle demands every name is on voters’ roll

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)has scheduled the weekend of June 20-21 forvoterregistration for the local government elections. It will conduct door-to-door targeted communication and registration outreach “to maximise registration opportunities closer to where voters reside” and “to facilitate access to franchise and broaden electoral participation”. Whether this effort will positively change the attitude and behaviour of many cit­izens who do not bother to vote remains to be seen, as recent research data indicates that 42% of nearly 28-mil­lion registered voters did not vote in the last elections.

The commission has acknowledged that “this election has to happen between November 2026 and January 2027” and that “it is not an optimal time to have an election because of the holidays and exams”. Factors under sharp consideration to improve voter turnout on election day include the weather forecasts and matric examinations. Also, 47% of young people were not interested in voting in the May 2024 national and provincial elections due to perceptions that their individual vote would not make any difference in the election outcomes.

However, 53% of young people still believed in the importance of voting, as a duty of citizens. You can call it apathy, disconnection, disempowerment or marginalisation, but an alarming gulf separates the people notionally represented in legislative bodies from the elected representatives who sit there. What is beyond argument, though, is that there can be no prospect of restoring the missing link between the governed and the governing. Meanwhile, a significant proportion of citizens are unable to participate fully in the political or socioeconomic life to which they are entitled.