Most young people don’t seem to be interested in politics in South Africa, that’s of course if you only focus on the voting statistics of the past few elections. During the last registration period, more than 13 million people eligible to vote, chose not to vote. The majority of these potential voters were young people. This is a worrying development for future elections as young people form the majority of the population in South Africa, Africa and the world with 15 to 25 year olds making up a fifth of the world’s population. 

However, when you look beyond the voting statistics, it’s clear that young people are interested and involved in politics and political activism but they face many challenges when they do stand up and act. They face death threats or become the target of assassinations as seen in community based organisations like rural village based Amadiba Crisis Community of the Xolobeni Community of Eastern Cape and urban based Abahlali Basemjondolo of Durban and Pietermaritzburg and other areas in KwaZulu Natal. Youth movements like #FeesMustFall also ended up fizzling out because political parties lured some of their leaders with attractive political positions including seats in parliament which they received and then didn’t use to continue to fight for #Freeeducationforall as they promised comrades when taking up the jobs. This makes young people’s appetite for activism wane and over the years young people have used various platforms to express a lack of trust in government. 

Another source of apathy is South Africa’s high unemployment rate, which sees many families experiencing third and fourth generation youth unemployment. When you are unemployed like your parents who were unemployed like their grandparents, this paints a bleak future outlook. 

The reality, as Statistics SA stats show, is that more than half of people between 15 and 34 years old are unemployed. Rampant corruption as captured in the State Capture Commission and decades of unfulfilled promises on housing, employment and other aspects of service delivery by the governing political party, ANC, has also led to further youth apathy and a low appetite for making the effort to vote. 

So with this bleak picture, why should youth still care about politics and political events like the State of the Nation address by the president? 

Young people need to continue being involved in political activities and voting because this gives them an opportunity to air their views on how they want South Africa to be run. It is mainly through the vote that change can come, change that can bring a better economy, more jobs and less socio – economic symptoms of big issues like drug and alcohol abuse, GBV and other social ills. 

When the government continues to take out multiple loans from international financial institutions it is young people today, the adults of tomorrow who will have to pay for that money. If young people don’t participate in activism then they won’t know the terms and conditions of the loans and the impact those loans will have on the future economy of South Africa and their ability to afford their lives in the future, even if the unemployment situation changes and there are many jobs. The government is increasingly taking out new debt to be repaid in the future and those who will be burdened with debt -payments need to be involved in government decisions now that they can stop it or challenge the terms and conditions. Participation in political activities also means that the current engagements on topical issues like climate change and the just energy transition can consider youth perspectives as custodians of the future. The way the deals and agreements around the just transition from coal to clean energy are handled, will have an impact on not only debt – payments but also how the problem of climate change is dealt with, now and in the future. Young people must participate in order to secure a future that makes sense to them as they will live with the consequences of today’s decisions, long after those who made them have died. Young people need to act now, to save themselves from future negative effects from current bad decision – making.Events like SONA are where the president tells the country about these decisions so youth need to pay careful attention to all announcements so they can stop them urgently.

Tell us: What do you think of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2023 SONA?