Voter apathy among the youth is known to be a long-standing challenge for the South African government. Except for voting at the age of 18, governance experts say there is no enabling legislative framework for youth participation in electoral and political processes
According to a study done by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), poor voter turnout among young South Africans has long been attributed to apathy.
Lulu White, CEO of the African Elections Management and Consulting Agency, believes that in order to avoid a revolution, the government must address the youth unemployment crisis. White adds that this has been a long-standing issue and it will likely get worse if it continues to be unaddressed.
According to Statistics South Africa's, Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) for the first quarter of 2022, the unemployment rate was 63,9% for those aged 15-24 and 42,1% for those aged 25-34 years, while the current official national rate stands at 34,5%.
Despite the fact that the graduate unemployment rate in South Africa is quite low when compared to other educational levels, youth unemployment remains a problem, regardless of educational attainment.
In Q1: 2022, the unemployment rate among young graduates (aged 15-24 years) fell from 40.3% to 32.6%, while it climbed by 6.9% to 22,4 percent for those aged 25-34 years.
The government has been urged to take note of the fact that history can be altered by the youth, as White also cites key events that occurred, such as the insurrection that happened in July last year during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.
“Yes, people said it was political dynamics but mainly it was the biggest players. There were also young people that were discontent that started the looting. That started a whole lot of other things that happened. We are seeing it in operation” she explained.
