COMMENT: Most young people are highly critical of political leaders, who fail to interact with them on a meaningful and relevant level. They complain that their grievances and frustrations more often than not fall on deaf ears.
I write this to conscientise the youth about the kingmaker status they have in the upcoming national elections. Young people represent a potentially powerful political force in South Africa. If they all used their voices in unity, they could make a drastic difference in the country by overthrowing the ruling party, the disappointing, arrogant and corrupt ANC.
Unfortunately, this is probably just an idea, not a reality, because the youth prefer to stay on the sidelines of politics and to worsen the situation, and politicians ignore them anyway. The main reason for this is because politicians tend to focus attention on mainstream voters, the older generation.
But they do not see how the system can work in their favour, or how political parties will actually attend to their immediate challenges. Unemployment and lack of access to free quality education are pressing issues. There seems to be an attempt by the government to silence the youth. They do not want young people to function optimally, hence the denial of free quality education and the ever-increasing unemployment rate.
When the ANC was not punished by voters for former president Thabo Mbeki’s HIV denialism and the billions that went missing during Alexandra’s “renewal”, that automatically created a context for Jacob Zuma to loot the state and outsource his executive office to the Guptas, and for Ramaphosa to receive Bosasa money.
While you can’t predict who or where you’ll be in four years, you can be sure that the political officials elected into office and the policies they implement will affect your life in the coming months and years. Through voting, the youth can put themselves in positions of power.
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