Why young adults stayed away from polls

“I was too busy preparing for my matric exams” and “I didn't see the need to vote”.

These are some of the reasons given by young adults who did not go to the polls on Monday.

Tumi Miya from Freedom Park, south of Johannesburg, is among young adults aged 18 and 19 who did not participate in the recent local government elections.

She said she was busy with schoolwork.

In Gauteng alone, there were less than 35,000 young adults who registered to vote.

According to voter registration statistics by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC), most of those who registered were females, at 18,435.

There were 13,994 males.

The IEC was on Wednesday unable to say how many of those who registered had voted.

The poor turnout by this age group was clear at the voting districts on Monday.

Mogumutsi Malete, 18, from Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, said she did not see the need to vote.

“I didn't know which party to vote for because we still have service delivery issues in our area. Our electricity is on and off,”  she said.

Political analysts believe that the poor voter turnout among this age group should not be a cause for concern as their knowledge about voting is still limited.

University of Johannesburg political analyst professor Mcebisi Ndletyana said when you are 18 or 19 you are not really concerned about voting.

“It takes an extraordinary young person to worry about the future of the country. Once they become taxpayers then they will start worrying about quality government. At this stage they don't see the importance of voting because it does not have direct affect on their lives,” Ndletyana said.

Political expert professor Siphamandla Zondi said: “Everything we [older people] do, we want to walk into an office instead of using our gadgets. We are hung up on old ways, including the old political language that alienates them. This age group is not always found in rallies our dominant mode of political mobilisation but on social media, clubs and joints. They have not been sufficiently mobilised and communicated with as with the rest of the population.”

He suspects that their decision not to vote reflects the rest of the population, which has also not shown much interest in the process. 

“They are like the rest of us in that they may not trust candidates and parties they see, may not have faith in our democratic processes, may see no need to vote as a way to influence changes and may not have confidence in our democracy,” he said.