Pretoria – South African youth have left government confident that they value democratic values and processes by registering to vote, and government is encouraged that come 3 August, the youth will show up in their numbers.
Young people of the country, particularly first time voters, heeded the Electoral Commission’s call when it campaigned for at least one million first time voters to register for the 2016 Local Government Elections.
The IEC was pleased to announce after the two voters’ registration weekends, that first time voters who registered this year exceeded the target by 384 254 registrations of first time voters.
This, according to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Deputy Minister Andries Nel, can only be encouraging news to government.
Speaking to SAnews on Wednesday during the launch of the National Results Operations Centre (ROC) in Pretoria, Deputy Minister Nel said government is very encouraged that over three million South Africans visited IEC registration points to check, amend and register for the upcoming elections this year.
“Particularly encouraging was the fact that 1.2 million new registrations took place, of which 80% were young people aged 30 years old and under.
“It is a clear indication that South Africans value their democracy, they believe in democratic processes and believe that democracy can build a better life. The young people believe that,” said the Deputy Minister.
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