Crisis of Electoralism — do you have a civic duty to vote in South Africa today? (Part One)

The importance of the vote

For much of my life, I was engaged in struggles where the demand for the vote to be available to all in South Africa, was a key element.

Initially, I was in the Progressive Party as a teenager, and the Progressive Party believed in a qualified franchise based on educational and property qualifications, something that echoed the Cape Colony of the 19th century.

When I went to university in 1963, I encountered people who believed in universal suffrage, as did the Liberal Party. It was then referred to as “one man one vote”, and I propagated it although I did not join any new political organisation.

When I became involved in the liberation struggle, under the leadership of the ANC and SACP, from 1969, universal suffrage was a key demand. It had been advanced by the ANC from the 1940s and was at the centre of the thinking of people who were in jail from the 1960s like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and many others.

When South Africa voted for the first time, in an election open to all sections of the population, it was the realisation of the notion of universal adult franchise, three very important words.

The franchise is a means for influencing the future of the country, for every adult to have that opportunity to exercise a say on the direction of the country.

The word adult had importance especially in the context of common apartheid discourse in the day-to-day lives of black people, and especially Africans. The forms of communication infantilised Africans as being members of a “child race”. Hence the use of the words “boy” or “girl” to refer to African men and women, something that one still hears today in many white references to black people.

When South Africa adopted universal adult suffrage, it was made very clear that all were equal and no population group could claim any form of superiority. It is a right attaching to citizenship (and I do not think citizenship as a qualification is controversial in this context, as it is with xenophobia) - but all citizens would be entitled to exercise it.

It was also part of securing gender equality.  The history of the suffrage all over the world reveals many cases of discrimination against women, including in the history of the franchise for whites in the Union of South Africa.

When the new, democratic constitution was adopted in 1996, it was very clear, with the involvement of a strong component of feminist activists that there would be no limitations on the constitutional rights of women in the new South Africa.

 Voting in a time of demoralisation, distrust and despair

I write this at a time when many people are asking themselves, how or whether they should exercise their vote at all in the elections of 2024. And very many have not registered to vote, especially amongst young people.

I am aware that its necessary, to write with responsibility and not encourage a trend where people, especially the youth, the future of our country, disengage from politics.

Consequently, what I ask about the civic duty or whether there is a civic duty to vote is not written with irresponsibility, or to encourage disengagement from politics. It is written in the context of perplexity, where very many people young and old, are asking whether they should vote because they are not sure who they should vote for and what difference it can make.

Having said that the vote is a fundamental right, there is nothing absolute about the value of the vote. There can be contexts when the vote is worthless, as was the case in puppet structures under apartheid.

There can be situations where the vote is very important symbolically, and in terms of the balance of power in the country. That was obviously the case in the first election, when the ANC that had been treated and depicted as a terrorist organisation, won an overwhelming victory.

We are now in a situation where politics in the country is in disarray where many people who voted for the ANC in the first and second elections are doubtful as to whether they should vote for it again and they are also grasping for a party for whom they should give their vote.

It is not easy to have answers because the situation when the ANC lost its majority in municipal government did not lead to positive results in many cases. It's important to recognise that some choices backfired and that influences the level of disillusionment with politics.

We've seen situations where in order to attain a majority the strongest party in a coalition (mainly the ANC), allowed a party with 5% of the vote to nominate someone as mayor. This has been in situations where cities like Johannesburg have massive infrastructural problems, water outages, drainage problems, load shedding, collapse of housing and hunger and many other social and infrastructural problems.

There was a problem with people exercising their vote, when puppet structures were offered to black people and they often boycotted them. There is a similar problem today, in that the alternatives that are on offer, generally do not represent options that people see as capable of resolving the country’s problems.

Does one conclude that one should not vote?  Many suggest that one is then neglecting a civic duty -to vote -and that is articulated by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

IEC on Why we should vote

The IEC argues, in contrast to ever withholding one’s vote that one must vote because it yields results. See: Why vote? They write:

“The question often asked is whether voting will really make a difference.

“Of course it does! Voting allows you to be part of decision-making that affects your life and the future of our country. If you don't vote, others will make the decisions for you.”

This is both true and untrue.  Certainly when one votes one can choose a party or candidates best aligned with what one wants to see in the country.

Having done that, the question is whether or not one’s vote does in fact translate into something different from that which one does not want, whether it  “make[s] a difference”.

The parties who sit in parliament decide on various important issues as the legislature but the implementation or failure to implement what is needed depends on a range of factors and actors outside of the voting booth and legislative chamber.  There are a range of spaces beyond the legislature that affect what happens to decisions, to which I return.

We know that many people are starving in South Africa or jobless or without homes, or heathcare or access to formal education.  This happens despite the ground rules for governance – the constitution declaring rights that should remedy these wrongs.  There is no way that the voter can even ensure that the party s/he voted for will act to end the abuse.  The individual voter may know some MP though that is rare, but making contact and having an MP act effectively is not easy, especially since the practical action required is not the direct role of an MP.

Many who devoted their lives to securing the vote, to ensure the ANC’s promise for a better life for all are now focused on securing a “better life” for themselves to adapt this initial ANC electoral slogan.

The truth of the matter is that the individual voter is at the bottom of the pile as far as the IEC’s reference to an “opportunity to be part of decision-making that affects your life and the future of our country”.  The individual voter is far from decision-making and even MPs are far from that in most cases.

The IEC continues: “Elections have consequences. You have the power to decide on the quality of life you want for yourself and your community, and even future generations. Voting is your chance to stand up for the issues you care about. This is your life: take the time to help decide what's best. Voting – rather than just venting on social media or protesting – is the best way to make your voice heard and make a positive input on the issues that concern you.”

This is well intentioned but there is little evidence over the last 30 years to demonstrate such a power vesting in the individual voter.  The voter exercises a preference and what happens after that may well be far removed from what s/he would like to see.

My object is not to feed into cynicism but to help draw conclusions that can help us find routes that are more viable. DM

This article is part one of a two-part contribution on voting as a civic duty. 

This article first appeared on Creamer Media’s polity.org.za

Raymond Suttner is an Emeritus Professor at the University of South Africa and a Research Associate in the English Department at University of the Witwatersrand. He served lengthy periods as a political prisoner. His writings cover contemporary politics, history, and social questions. His twitter handle is @raymondsuttner.