Youth voter apathy concerns
Political parties and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) were hoping against hope for the youth to register for the forthcoming general elections.
Political parties and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) were hoping against hope for the youth to register for the forthcoming general elections.
By Monday 4 February the picture did not look good, at least judging from the arrival of potential voters at the IEC office in Bela-Bela.
The Waterberg IEC could not readily provide statistics with regards to other towns across the region.
In Bela-Bela personnel at the IEC offices said it was largely older people who arrived to verify their status.
The sources said not a single first-time voter arrived.
Political parties from across the Waterberg continue to nudge especially first-time voters to register.
Fresh from the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) election manifesto launch in the Pretoria township of Soshanguve last weekend, the party’s Bela-Bela co-ordinator, Sello Moswoeu said they would not stop pushing.
A nationwide survey has found that of the unregistered voters countrywide, the majority were individuals from the ages of 19 and 34.
Of the 767 individuals who visited voter registration stations during the final registration campaign last weekend in Modimolle, Thabazimbi, Lephalale, Bela-Bela, Modimolle/Mookgophong, only
258 were first-time voters or those categorised as “youth”.
— The BEAT
