Our Viewpoint | Voter apathy threatens democratic gains

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) deserves credit for what has been a highly successful voter registration weekend for the November local government elections. Now, the challenge remains getting people to cast their ballots on election day. With close to 29 million citizens now registered to vote, the country has once again demonstrated that it retains a strong reservoir of democratic participation when it comes to the formal act of registration.

The numbers tell a sobering story: in the 2024 general elections, only 58.6% of registered voters cast their ballots, with the situation even more concerning in the 2021 local government elections, where voter turnout dropped to a mere 45% of registered voters. This represents a significant decline in civic participation, particularly when measured against the country’s democratic high point in 1994, when an overwhelming 86,8% of registered voters participated in the first democratic elections. While there could be a number of factors contributing to voter apathy, growing public disillusionment with political parties, persistent service delivery failures at local government level, and a perception that elections do not meaningfully alter lived realities have all played a role in weakening voter enthusiasm.

For many citizens, the act of voting is increasingly seen as symbolic rather than transformative. However, the implications of declining turnout are far from symbolic: low participation rates risk undermining the legitimacy of elected representatives and weakening the democratic mandate upon which local government authority rests. When less than half of registered voters participate in choosing their leaders, questions inevitably arise about the depth of public consent.

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This trend also places additional pressure on institutions like the IEC, which, while successful in ensuring access to registration, cannot on its own reverse broader societal disengagement from politics. The responsibility is shared and must extend to political parties, civil society and government itself. What is required is a renewed effort to restore public confidence in the electoral process and in the capacity of local government to deliver tangible improvements in people’s lives. Without this, even the most efficient registration campaigns will continue to yield diminishing returns on election day.

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