Elections can lead to psychological damage – expert

Elections mean speech after speech, rhetoric and promise on repeat – and it is psychologically damaging to people, according to a psychologist.

South Africans are led into a state of hyperawareness, said Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys. A state of hypervigilance, he called it, saying it was one of the symptoms related to post-traumatic stress that many citizens already suffer from, to one degree or another.

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This given the vast levels of crime, poverty, lack of service delivery and corruption that’s shown no sign of improvement.

“So many South Africans have been exposed to a great number of stressors, often brought on by this underlying political volatility,“ said Redelinghuys.

He said this state of hyperawareness compounds decades of post-traumatic stress triggers from the historical legacy of the struggle and its violent upheaval, through to sustained political instability, never-ending corruption, the growing chasm between haves and have nots, the establishment of an elite, self-enriching class linked to the state and the media overload of it all.

“How much bashing and attempts at manipulation, thievery and violence can one nation absorb? There might just be a straw that eventually breaks the camel’s back,” said Redelinghuys.

“South Africans are already in a state of hypervigilance, expecting the good times to end as soon as the election is over, expecting a further decline.

“Should that happen, it could be the final straw, because the purpose of, for example, uninterrupted electricity would be done for. It can unleash unprecedented anger, compounded by years of stress,” he said.

Security expert Chad Thomas of IRS Forensic Investigations said that three decades ago, before the first democratic elections, SA was mired in violence. It was the tail end of a nationalist government that had led the country into dissent the previous 40 years.

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“We had mass marches, storms of violence around the country, left- and right-wing troubles, bombs exploding… The Boiphatong massacre, Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus were in flames,” Thomas recalled.

“Leading up to this election, people are excited that they may bring about change, but people are also very scared. Everyone saw what happened in July 2021 during the looting mayhem.”

He believes law enforcement has plans in place to ensure there’s not a wild expression of stressors this time around and a repeat of the looting spree and concomitant destruction. Thomas disagrees with doomsdayers that expect a semblance of civil war.

“Everyone understands that South Africa just cannot afford that,” he said.

Redelinghuys said after 30 years of ANC government and 40 years of National Party rule before that, it amounts to three-quarters of a century where South Africans were battered and bruised by oppressive circumstances in different shapes and guises, from inequality through to corruption and crime.

“Rebuilding a measure of trust between state and citizens will be a mammoth task,” he said