Local governmentelectionsin SA have consistently recorded lower voter turnout than national and provincial elections. The2021 local government electionsmarked the lowest voter participation since 1994, dropping to 46%. This is a sobering reality for a sphere of the government that is, in theory, the closest to the people.
This decline cannot simply be dismissed as voter apathy. While research often points to youth disengagement linked to frustration with failing municipal services, we must also recognise this as a form of protest. Many residents are refusing to legitimise systems and leaders who show little appreciation for democratic participation.
The problem speaks directly to the calibre of politics and politicians at the local level. Local politics governs the most intimate details of daily life: water infrastructure, roads, clinics, housing allocations, informal trading spaces and spatial planning. It shapes the material conditions of citizens more directly than parliament ever could.
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This does not mean the local government is unimportant to citizens. It means the local democratic culture is fragile and rests heavily on political parties and their presence, or absence, within communities. Parties such as the ANC and the EFF, whose political identities are rooted in grassroots mobilisation, have long acknowledged that weak local branches signal organisational decay.
The branch is meant to make ideology real in everyday community life. It is where political education happens, where mobilisation takes shape and where public accountability should begin. Through this, communities identify the most appropriate people to carry a public mandate forward.
When branches weaken and community engagement fades, democracy thins. It is not coincidental that declining voter participation in the local government elections parallels the erosion of the ANC’s grip.
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