3 min read
12 October 2022
12:15

The term “voter apathy” has become part of the common political discourse and is often used to give the impression that voters do not vote due to political ignorance or carelessness.

Radio Islam International discussed with The Rivonia Circle’s Songezo Zibi his latest opinion piece findings after almost a year of fieldwork, such as focus groups, surveys, community meetings, and online discussions.

According to Songezo, he is convinced voter abstention is typically a very deliberate political choice.

Songezo said that people had lost trust in political parties and political systems due to corruption and chose not to participate in any elections.

He said people complain about the lack of engagement, the fact that people are not allowed to decide on their preferred candidate and the inability to hold people accountable. And that has resulted in people being disaffected.

He further said that people believe that politicians are in it for power and positions rather than to serve the people.

Songezo said his main concern is that coalitions are collapsing, giving people more reasons not to vote and increasing the disaffection that people already have towards the political system.

Last year statistics showed that 45.8% of registered voters participated in the local government elections.

Zibi said that about 14 million people under 18 were not eligible to vote as they were not registered. The voter apathy group is under 25, meaning they do not generally discuss politics and are not politically engaged.

Songezo outlined the highest abstention rate among black people in urban and rural towns.

He opined that should the political system engage with the voters throughout the year, focusing on coming up with solutions in which they can get involved, implementing and giving them a say in choosing candidates, voter turnout could improve.

[LISTEN] to the podcast here