Over the next few days, South Africans will need to wrestle with the choice of how they exercise their constitutional right and mandate to choose representatives that both inspire them, but also representatives that will act in their name, and in service of their desires for a better country. 

Those young South Africans as a voting cohort have the most consequential power that South Africa so desperately needs. An opportunity where young people cannot simply reject ideological tropes and fearmongering, but begin the work of a revived social compact in this country. 

In many ways this election will not be a watershed transition as we enabled on 27 April 1994, but rather a sequential moment that reminds those who have served in our Parliaments (national and provincial) that this is not a time dominated by political parties, but rather a time that will demand commitment and service to people. This election, more than 27 million South Africans will have a choice free and unconfined by the hegemony of the establishment, and those who govern our country and provinces. For many, this will be the first time that they have electoral options that are not about choosing between the lesser evil, but rather about choosing how this country’s public power must be shared.  

In the cohort of those voters under 40, more than 11 million young South Africans have a choice to participate next Wednesday — a choice that seeks to reshape our parliamentary processes and electoral outcomes. A choice that will be able to break through the margins of polling data and electoral projections. 

Those young South Africans as a voting cohort have the most consequential power that South Africa so desperately needs. An opportunity where young people cannot simply reject ideological tropes and fearmongering, but begin the work of a revived social compact in this country. 

Real participation by South Africans in our democracy is the only way to truly turn the tide against ideological tropes, weary policy positions and lacklustre implementation. Younger South Africans must once again remind the country about what real participation means. This election will not be carried alone by those voters under 40 today, as voters in the grouping of 40 to 69 account for just more than 13 million South Africans.

‘New voices and leaders’

However, after 30 years of our constitutional democracy, the rise of new voices and leaders in this election cycle provide an important reflection point where older South Africans must ask themselves why they would entrust this fragile democracy to those who have failed in so many respects when there are viable alternatives?  

Importantly, South Africans after election day next week (after the lengthy vote-counting that will culminate in the inevitable fractious jockeying for the sitting of Parliament that will elect the Republic’s president) must not take their eye off the commitment that the next 30 years will require from us all. Now is not the time to simply exercise our constitutional right to vote for the representatives best placed and suited to serve us and the country, but also a time where we will commit alongside the seventh Parliament to participate in our democracy. 

Critically, we must not simply lend our votes to those seeking our vote on 29 May, but rather we must grant that vote on the basis that accountability and committed service are the only acceptable terms of that arrangement. The new cohort of elected representatives constituted in June 2024 must be on notice after this election.  

What will ‘undecided’ voters do?

However, the polling data and analysts have been crunching projections across the country, but a large gap in that analysis is about what will those undecided voters decide to do on 29 May? Five years ago, voter turnout stood around 66% (or around 17 million votes cast, compared to the 26 million registered voters) while our local government elections in 2021 resulted in turnout of around 45% (or around 12 million, compared to the 26 million registered voters). 

The voter turnout is going to be an important number to keep an eye on, especially as the country navigates the next few years. In this election cycle, the big unknown that could change everything will be the question of how many voters arrive at the polls and choose to participate (especially those who have not participated in their millions in other election cycles)? 

A reminder that there is an alternative

We will need to see if enough has been done to provide South Africans with a reminder that there is an alternative that is not simply acceptable, but also an alternative they are willing to walk alongside beyond 29 May 2024, and for the next five years. 

Jointly demanding more accountability and proper representation in our Parliament that results in elected representatives holding the executive accountable and responsible for their actions. This demand and clarion call across this country can only result in better outcomes for communities. Sadly, far too many in this sixth Parliament have forgotten what they have been entrusted to do.  

This election may not be a moment that will result in a wholesale shift of our political power, but it will be a declaration by the people of this country that accountability and service are the only acceptable means by which power will be granted to the people’s representatives. 

South Africans are done waiting for those elected representatives to do the right thing. South Africans don’t need to be reminded how this Parliament has failed the people, the Constitutional Court unanimously rebuked our elected representatives in the Mogale judgment by finding that Parliament overwhelmingly “failed to fulfil its constitutional obligation to reasonably facilitate public involvement”. Every day communities and people across South Africa are on the receiving end of these failures. 

We have no time left for the litany of empty promises or pledges to save us, but rather South Africans will be demanding real commitment that speaks to the collective rebuilding and moment when South Africans can claim back power. A country and people that are calling out for — no, demanding — new leaders.  

The machinery of political parties will be hard at work, to prove how the outcomes are inevitable. We must not waiver in the belief that the only real power today sits with the people, and we must not be afraid to use it. We must reject ideological tropes, ethno-nationalism in all its forms, and all attempts to suppress the real anguish of South Africans. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: We live in a democracy that was born out of pain and struggle — let’s not squander it 

None of this can be explained away, and my deep hope is that South Africans remain focused. We have time and time again proven that nothing should be taken for granted. This week South Africans will be seized with an opportunity to not simply revoke the mandate of those who have failed to confront the triple threat of unemployment, poverty and inequality, but also those who have failed to turn the tide against corruption and self-interest.  

Not a wholesale shift, but a declaration

This election may not be a moment that will result in a wholesale shift of our political power, but it will be a declaration by the people of this country that accountability and service are the only acceptable means by which power will be granted to the people’s representatives. 

But much will depend on those cohorts of undecided voters and those who have not participated in elections in the past. If those voters come out in their numbers, and decide to make a statement, well then we have a very different election results outcome. Regardless, voters next week have an opportunity to not simply do the unthinkable, but most certainly will be reshaping the pathway leading up to the 2026 local government election, and definitely the 2029 national and provincial elections. DM