The fading mark on my thumb nail serves as a reminder of how I exercised my democratic duty this April. I have seen this mark a few times before, so to me it has become just another annoying mark that is taking too long to disappear.
The fading mark on my thumb nail serves as a reminder of how I exercised my democratic duty this April. I have seen this mark a few times before, so to me it has become just another annoying mark that is taking too long to disappear.
It has become a symbol of what I am expected to do every five years.
I am certain that it also brings a state of despondency to many, as the symbol reminds them of the sorry state of affairs in the country – high unemployment rate, endemic poverty, corruption, nepotism, high crime rate…..the list goes on.
But for the millions of the so-called “born frees”, who were voting for the first time, it probably has a different meaning.
For them it could be a naïve sense that by putting an “x” next to a politician’s photo on a ballot paper, they could change the world.
But voting for them could also be a sense of despair as they don’t see much change in the lives of many South Africans, despite having witnessed their parents, aunts, or older siblings standing in long queues, waiting to exercise this democratic right that came to millions as a result of sacrifices of many who struggled against apartheid, with some even making the ultimate sacrifice – their lives.
Perhaps it is this state of desolation that made many of the “born frees” to stay away from this year’s elections.
One cannot oversimplify the reasons why they decided to stay away. It could be that they are just not interested in politics. It could be that they had other priorities on that day than standing in long queues, waiting for their turn to cast a vote.
It may be that they thought their votes would not make a difference.
Whatever the reason, it is crucial for South Africans to interrogate what could be the possible reasons for this generation not to be interested in politics.
Before this year’s elections, many political parties put their hopes in the “born frees”, with many reasoning that since this generation was not affected by apartheid, they did not have loyalty to any political party, but will vote for a party which will bring change to their lives.
The political parties might have missed the point here. Maybe the political parties might have even underestimated the intellect of these young people.
They are clever, and they analyse the political terrain better than most of their parents, many who vote blindly as a result of loyalty to certain political parties or even ideologies. It is this group’s ability to analyse the political landscape that some parties were hoping to rely on.
Probably the opposition parties were hoping that the “born frees” would look into the state of affairs in the country, and decide to vote against the ruling party.
As the results in the last elections show, this does not necessarily seem to have been the case, even though the ANC lost some of its voters since 2009, and the opposition gaining some ground.
These “born frees” probably did analyse the status quo, and are probably very unhappy with how things are in the country.
However, it is probably the same power of analysis that made them to look deeper the reason for the state of affairs in the country.
Apartheid ended about 20 years ago, but as much as we would like to forget about it, some of its effects are still clearly visible.
This country is one of the most unequal societies in the world, and wealth is possessed mainly by those who benefited from the apartheid system, be it by gaining good education that was afforded to people of a certain skin colour, or the connections with people in high places, which are still very helpful to climb the corporate ladder.
An unemployed “born free” in Joza cannot have the same hope for a better life as a “born free” from Grahamstown west who attend Rhodes University, and will probably join the family business upon graduation.
However, some of the pervasive challenges that we face as the country today cannot be attributed to apartheid. The collapsing education system cannot be blamed on apartheid.
The mud schools, high teacher absenteeism, late delivery of textbooks and a general disregard for education by many of our youngsters cannot be attributed to that system, inhumane as it was.
We cannot blame apartheid for setting our children for failure by lowering the pass mark for matric, in the process producing matriculants who cannot read or write.
We have many “born frees” with a grade 12 certificate, who cannot access employment or higher education due to extremely poor marks.
Those “born frees” who stayed away from this year’s elections probably looked at the situation from all angles, lost hope and decided that no political party genuinely cared about their future.
I applaud those who saw the bigger picture, and realised that despite all the challenges, they had to exercise their democratic right in order to have their voice heard.
There is no better time than now as a country to teach our youth that a democracy comes with responsibilities. It is their responsibility to ensure that generations to come find things better than they are presently.
It is also their responsibly to hold government to account by asking for explanations and justification for the state action or inaction.
The South African constitution provides for numerous avenues in which South Africans should hold government into account on a daily basis and not just once every five years.
If we are to build South Africa of our dreams, it cannot be business as usual. It is time that the “born frees” realise this and act upon building a South Africa they would be proud of.
They are this country’s future leaders after all.
•Abongile A. Sipondo is the Head of Advocacy Impact Programme at the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
