IEC affords youth the opportunity to make their voices heard

By Cindy Witten
29 October 2008

Over the past few weeks, while travelling across the country and engaging with various stake holders, the electoral commission (IEC) noticed a similar trend relating to youth in South Africa. Youth felt that they did not have a say in the electoral processes.

“We felt that instead of us trying to represent our voice, we would allow young people to have a dialogue and to discuss amongst themselves as peers to say what their role is in the electoral processes,” said Kate Bapela from the Independent Electoral Commission.
“Not only looking at the elections now, but also those in years to come to say that it starts with being able to grasp issues that are significant to them.”

The aim of the Dialogue is to create awareness amongst South African youth who are legally of age to vote, so that they will understand the importance of electoral process.

“We feel that we should provide them that platform and allow them to dialogue, come up with initiatives and really allow them to really lead their initiatives.”