Young people don’t vote — we asked what would get them to the polls

“There is no difference, whether we vote or we do not, nothing will change,” said Mnqobi Mhlongo (21), a student at a private college in Braamfontein.

Another student, Mpho Motlhaolwa (20), shared the sentiment. He had registered to vote, but later changed his mind.

“I am from Eldorado Park and there is crime everywhere. We have been addressing this issue as a community for years, but they do not hear us. There are potholes, no sewage drains. These are some of the reasons why I will not vote,” he said.

They are not alone. With the upcoming local government elections scheduled for 4 November 2026, youth voters in South Africa remain relatively disengaged from politics.

In the 2021 local government elections, 90% of people aged 18-19 did not register to vote, and fewer than 20% of voters aged 20-34 had registered.

This is largely a reflection of how politicians have engaged with youthful voters. In a 2025/2026 IEC Voter Participation survey, conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council, 76% of young people aged 16-24 agreed with the statement that political parties give too little attention to the concerns and needs of young people.

In addition, research has found that young people face significant barriers to voter participation. A 2026 study by civil society organisation Democracy Development Program (DDP) found that external factors such as inaccessible voting stations and low civic literacy contributed to these statistics.

Compounding this are high unemployment rates. According to StatsSA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter of 2026, the youth unemployment rate climbed from 57% in Q4 2025 to 60.9%. According to DDP, the high unemployment rates, informal work schedules, and the need to undertake caregiving activities have meant that voting is low on the list of priorities.

The IEC has stepped up efforts to boost youth participation.

Vice-Chairperson Janet Love recently told Daily Maverick that the organisation has done voter registration drives at schools and universities, and reached out to student representative councils, cultural and faith-based organisations “to really put forward the importance of taking hold of your own future by participating in elections, and to get people to understand that … staying out is not going to improve things.

“On the contrary, it’s going to let people who you are critical of, take even more control of your [future],” said Love.

The graphs below, presented by Love in 2025, show how fewer young people are registering to vote, while fewer of those are turning out on voting day.

Daily Maverick spoke to 25 young people about whether they would vote in the upcoming elections and why. The results revealed that many are disillusioned and do not feel that voting will make a difference. However, there are many other young people who feel a duty to vote, given the service delivery crises and lack of young voices in politics.

‘No good political party’

While speaking to young people, the disengagement from politics was palpable. Some believed the pervasive, debunked myth that if one does not vote, then the vote automatically goes to the leading party, which demotivated them from participating at all.

Gift Masango (22) listed the myth as a reason to vote, saying, “I will be voting for the first time, and the reason for me to vote is because, apparently, when you do not vote, your vote goes to whoever who is leading or something… I think I am just protecting my vote.”

A number of young people did not know about the upcoming election at all, while others either didn’t see the point of voting or did not know who to vote for.

“With the upcoming elections, no one knows who to really vote for because there is no good political party. I do not know who represents a different agenda, especially with those in power right now,” said Entle Sithole (19), a first-year student at Wits University and a first-time voter.

Her sentiments were echoed by others. Neo Maseko (20) is a student at the University of Johannesburg who intends to vote. He said he knows many people who don’t because of the number of politicians who broke election promises once they entered office.

“A lot of them don’t want to vote because they believe that nothing changes. It’s all the same song, ‘vote for us, we’ll do this, vote for us, we’ll do that’. But once they’re elected, it’s a different story,” he said.

Others were disengaged with politics altogether, believing that as long as the older generation continued to vote for the ruling party, there was nothing the youth could do.

“I do not follow politics at all because I believe they have nothing to do with me,” said Johannesburg resident Gugulethu Msimamgo (20), adding, “I have never voted before. The older generation keeps voting for the ANC. They still believe it will bring change, so there is no use in voting.”

These views are reflected at a high school level. Daily Maverick spoke to some of the matriculants from St Dunstan’s College in Benoni who expressed mixed feelings towards voting.

One of them, Muhluri Nkwamba (18), described voting as a “touchy situation” and said she felt overwhelmed by the large number of political parties. She did not know who to vote for, and that she could not trust anyone in power to be responsible.

“I don’t even know if I want to vote,” she said. She would feel more inclined to vote if she felt voting had a real political impact.

Another student, Hayden Chaplin (18), said that the voting process itself was a deterrent.

“It’s not quick. You have to wait in long queues for hours, and that’s not easy,” he said, adding that matriculants may not have the time as the elections take place during final examinations.

One solution: Youth representation

So what would convince young people to vote? Several of the interviewees we spoke to indicated that they intended to vote and flagged the lack of youth representation and voter engagement as barriers to voting.

Manathi Wopula (20) suggested that political parties engage more with voters on their successes.

“I think they could try to make us understand the impact that they have on society, what they are doing as a political party in general, and what they are fighting for. Because even right now, we aren’t hearing a lot of things. But when the voting times are about to come, that’s when you hear, ‘Oh, they fixed the taps here. They built houses’,” she said.

Her sentiments were shared by UJ student Mbali Dlova (23), who is planning to vote, but thinks political parties could do a better job of speaking directly to young people about the issues they face.

“I think our common fears are unemployment, poverty, and all those kind of things. So, have those talks on how you’re planning to change those kind of things. Have university tours, if that’s something that could happen. Tell us what you’re trying to do, what you’re going to change, and whatnot. And the plans that you’ve put in place to change those things,” he suggested.

One of the most prevalent suggestions was for more political parties to put more young people forward as candidates.

“I had been part of the community activism group on multiple occasions where I am from. As young as I am, I know what leadership looks like,” said Mnqobi Mhlongo.

“If they can put us in leadership positions and stop undermining our voice, maybe we might see a little change happening.” DM

Additional reporting by Victoria O’Regan.