A better future for SA is in the ballot box

Much is made of the possibility that the 2024 general election could be a turning point in South African politics – with many opponents seeing those polls as the first real opportunity to oust the ANC from power.

Yet, the worry is that ordinary people simply do not care any more and that voter apathy will deprive us of seeing how South Africans really feel about the ANC.

The party’s opponents and critics often blame ANC supporters for the mess this country is in – because they keep voting it back into power. Yet, there are other, more subtle dynamics at play.

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While more voters are becoming aware that the collapse they see around them cannot be laid at the door of anyone else other than the government, political analyst André Duvenhage believes poor voter turnout is because people have completely lost confidence in the system, the ANC and related structures.

“Therefore, the argument is that there is no need to go and vote. Why should we vote if next time we will have the same or even worse situation?”

That sort of attitude indicates a failure from both opposition political parties and the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) to educate voters that their votes can actually make a difference. Whether the IEC is doing anything to remedy that remains a mystery for the moment, because the taxpayer-funded organisation has not seen fit to respond to our queries.

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Voter apathy can only play into the hands of the ANC, which also has the powerful psychological advantage of portraying itself as the organisation which helps millions of impoverished people survive, through the social grant system.

If we want a better future for SA and for our children and grandchildren, then we do have that power in our hands, when we pick up a pen in the ballot box.