In the lead-up to the general election, a pivotal question remains: will South Africa’s youth turn out to vote , and if not, why? On 29 May, South Africans will leave their homes with their IDs to cast their votes in the seventh democratic general election. However, given how important this year’s elections are, there is a lingering question about how the youth of South Africa will turn out and, if not, why. As of April 2024, the majority of 6.
81 million registered were between the ages of 30 and 39, which accounted for almost 25 percent of the total, according to the Electoral Commission of South Africa ( IEC )’s statistics . The 18–19-year-olds amounted to 563 075 voters registered, making them the age group with the least number of registrations, at about two percent of the total. The 20 to 29-year-olds amounted to 4.
41 million registered, which accounted for almost 16 percent of the total. ALSO READ: Way beyond the IEC threshold? MK party accused of hiring team to forge signatures Duped into registering? During the voter registration period, some young South Africans also found themselves in a situation where they were seemingly tricked into registering. In February, beauty influencer and YouTuber Kay Yarms, real name Khethokuhle Ngonyama, hilariously duped her followers after she shared that she had a new video up on her channel.
However, when her followers clicked the link to watch the new vlog, they ended up on the IEC’s home page to register to vote. One of .
