Pienaar youth encouraged to vote

Young people are frustrated about unemployment and the lack of service delivery from their respective local governments, and believes it will be futile to vote in the upcoming national general elections.

However, the Lifa Lesive Community Development Agency encouraged young people in Pienaar to vote during an interactive public participation and voting youth workshop at Msogwaba Mphakatsi Hall on June 28.

The founder of the agency, Lucky Nkosi, said the workshop aimed to educate the community about the importance of voting and participating in public programmes, and also to share ideas on how to tackle challenges faced by the youth.

“There is a better way to make our voice heard, which is through voting and attending public meetings. The goal of the workshop is to curb violent protests by encouraging the youth to exercise their rights the correct way,” Nkosi said.

Most of the young people from various villages in Pienaar said they have voted in the past elections, but no services had been brought to their community.

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One of the youngsters who voiced his opinion on voting being an ineffectual form of public participation was Xolile Fakude. He said voting is made accessible to everyone, but there is a great lack of service delivery.

“Little to no services are made available to us. The first issue most communities are faced with is load-shedding. Not only does it affect households, but the small businesses that young people started to earn an income due to unemployment. Some of us still do not have water and electricity in our homes. We received empty promises during elections. Some people are bribed with T-shirts to vote for political parties, but are left in the dark after they win. The only things our government know are nepotism and fraud,” Fakude said.

Jabulani Mashaba, who is vision-impaired, raised issues that affect people living with disabilities, and said they are often neglected by the government.

“We live off donations because most of us are from underprivileged backgrounds. We are often overlooked for employment opportunities and skills development programmes. There are also no opportunities in rural areas made available for vision-impaired people to learn Braille,” said Mashaba. He said he has no hope in the government and is doubtful if he will cast his vote in the upcoming elections.

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A community member, Sfiso Zitha, said it is important for young people to include themselves in public participation to raise their issues.

“It is initiatives like the Integrated Development Planning that we need to participate in so that we can hold the government accountable. Voting is crucial because it is an opportunity to encourage the ruling party to bring change, and the only right no one can take away from us,” Zitha said.

For the workshop, the agency partnered with Freedom House SA, the United States Agency for International Development, the Mbombela Office of the Public Protector, the Department of Health, the Independent Electoral Committee, the Msogwaba Tribal Authority, Cllr Dudu Nkosi and the SAPS.