Reloaded success with Hlengiwe

We are only two days away from the “registration weekend”. I am sure that by now we all have our ID’s ready. As a young person, I am eager to take the first step towards shaping my future and that of my daughter’s. She is six years old now, but by the time the next five-year presidential term ends, she will be 11.

I believe she will be in grade six. Whether or not she will have textbooks at school, access to healthcare and equal opportunities as a young black woman, are all dependent on my decision to vote or not to. It is critical that we remember if we do not register to vote, others are registering and voting and their decisions will affect all of us and our offspring.

The last mistake I want to make is to give old-timers an opportunity and space to make decisions whose repercussions they will not live to experience.

As a young person, I believe it is my responsibility to mobilise my fellow brothers and sisters to take active participation in the 2014 general elections and have their say. After all, my vote alone will not make the difference that our votes, collectively can make.

After this weekend, we will have approximately 200 days or so to carefully scrutinise our past, present and envisaged future, to help us decide on who to vote for. For now, the crucial step is register.

Hazen Pingree once said: “Voter apathy was, and will remain the greatest threat to democracy”. In simple language, the biggest threat is the low turn-out of voters.

I have said it before and I will repeat myself, if political parties realise that more young people are registered to vote, they will work hard in trying to convince us to vote for them, this includes improved service delivery.

After all, we do not vote to get back at people or parties, but we vote to improve our lives. This goes back to my previous utterances that it is easier to bring change when young people are playing an active role in politics, because then they will not only have the chance to elect their favourite political parties, but they will also have the ability to elect their favourite candidates, which is an internal party process.

Political participation also affords us an opportunity to carefully scrutinise the policies of the parties we elect into power, which in turn become our government policies. Interact with us on twitter: @_mpnews and @hlengimganu.

Hlengiwe is: A Corporate MC, Motivational Speaker, Radio entertainment reporter, Magazine features writer, Columnist, Young Professional, Mentor…