Poverty has soared to more than two-thirds if we use the Upper Bound Poverty Line adjusted to R50/person/day. Unemployment has soared since the low of 16% in 1995, and is more than twice as high today, at 44% including people who have given up looking for work. This is the trend because most of the citizens have not seen their votes turning to be an instrument to build a better life for all.Īlthough the end of apartheid and the introduction of democracy gave us dignity and representation, the neoliberal policies adopted during the 1990s failed the poor majority where it matters most, in improving the quality of life in material ways. The most worrying part is that we have reached the global average of apathy, despite being one of the youngest democracies.
But only 17,7 million actually exercised their right to vote. In the last national elections, registered voters represented 74,6% of the eligible voting population of over 35,8 million. The resounding majority asks a simple question: who is representing us? The chorus from the disappointed voters is revealing: ‘we won’t vote, it makes no difference to vote’.
More than 325 parties are contesting the 2021 local government elections (out of the country’s 504 registered parties) with a record 95 427 candidates contesting up from 63 000 in 2016.
