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By Lynsey Chutel
Photographs via João Silva
Reporting from Johannesburg, Polokwane, Carletonville, Phoenix and Gqeberha in South Africa
At the time of democracy in South Africa, following the fall of the racist apartheid government, millions of people took cover before dawn to vote in the country’s first free and fair elections in 1994.
Thirty years later, democracy has its shine for a new generation.
South Africa is now heading into a very important election on Wednesday, in which the electorate will decide which party – or alliance – will decide on the president. But voter turnout has been declining in recent years. It fell below 50% for the first time in the 2021 municipal elections, and analysts said voter registration has not kept pace with the expansion of the voting-age population.
This downward curve mirrors the case of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, or ANC, which was a liberation movement before becoming a political machine. Polls show the party could lose its absolute majority for the first time since it arrived. by force in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela.
A new generation of voters does not enjoy the experience of apartheid or the emotional connection that their parents and grandparents had with the party. The African National Congress, as the ruling party, this is all other young people know, and they blame it for their unemployment, rampant crime and an economy devastated by staff cuts.
“Generational replacement or change, after all, has affected the ANC,” said Collette Schulz-Herzenberg, an associate professor of political science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
South Africa is no exception to global trends: studies show that Gen Z and the millennial electorate in many countries have lost faith in the democratic process, although they remain deeply concerned about issues such as climate change and the economy.
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