Youth stay away from polls as townships turn quiet while suburbs queue to vote - TimesLIVE

Thousands of young people appeared to have turned their back on the local government elections in townships such as Nyanga, Langa and Khayelitsha, with some opting to treat election day as a public holiday rather than exercise their right to vote.

While some voting stations in these communities were relatively quiet, with mostly elderly residents turning out, long queues could be seen at several polling stations in the suburbs, highlighting a stark contrast in voter participation across the city.

At a 2pm briefing at the IEC’s provincial results centre in Century City, Cape Town, provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said more than 824,000 of the Western Cape’s 3.4-million registered voters had cast their ballots by lunchtime.

In townships, young voters who did make their way to the polls said frustration over poor service delivery, unemployment and a lack of development had contributed to voter apathy.

Nonkululeko Fani, 24, said she was not surprised that residents in the suburbs had turned out in large numbers, arguing that they benefited from better service delivery than people in informal settlements.

“I stay in Level 2, eZimbacwini, a refugee area in Khayelitsha. We don’t have electricity and rely on izinyoka (illegal electricity connections). Even then, we cannot use the electricity to cook,” she said.

Fani said their portable bucket toilet system had not been serviced that week, forcing residents to dig holes in the sand to dispose of the contents of their 20-litre buckets after using them.

“Voting is just a waste of time. We don’t even know who our councillor is. I will use this day to sort out my stuff. We are just grateful for the free holiday,” she said.

However, 27-year-old Thando Maxhama, who voted at Soyisile voting station in Nyanga, said young people could not afford to abandon the electoral process, despite their frustrations.

“As much as the youth are angry because they are unemployed, our voices matter. People are using this day to enjoy themselves and drink alcohol. They forget about the unemployed youth,” he said.

“We have sewage flowing down the streets where children play. We need change in our areas and our votes can help bring that about. We can’t have young people spending their time smoking and drinking alcohol.”

For 78-year-old Bongiwe Jack, the low turnout among young people was particularly disappointing.

“Our streets have not had lights since 1994. We are dealing with theft and you cannot walk in the streets when it is dark because you will become a victim of the nyaope boys,” she said.

“What the youth don’t understand is that by not voting, they are making the situation worse.”

Meanwhile, Hendrickse said voter management devices had contributed to delays in the opening of some voting stations.

He also confirmed that an electoral official deployed to Mossel Bay had been summarily dismissed after reporting for duty under the influence of alcohol.

“All our 1,623 voting stations were opened this morning, and as of now we are continuing to actively process all our voters at our various voting stations,” he said.

There was a strong police presence at several voting stations in the townships, with officers deployed to maintain order as voting continued.