A decline in young registered voters has prompted the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to host a dialogue at Nelson Mandela University in the Eastern Cape.

The theme of the dialogue was “Strengthening democracy through youth participation”. It covers several topics, including the introduction of electronic voting to keep up with the constant changes in technology.

The dialogue brought insightful discussions from the perspective of the youth on the complexities involved in strengthening democracy in South Africa.

The Director of the University’s Center for Security, Peace, and Conflict Resolution, Professor Ntsikelelo Breakfast, says it is important for them to join forces with the IEC to promote democracy.

“There has been a withdrawal of young people of late regarding Electoral participation so the aim of this event was to promote democracy but also to join forces with the IEC largely because they’re a facilitator of election but also as this centre we acknowledge the linkage we have with them because they stand for democracy, we stand for peace and without democracy you cannot have peace and security nor can you also have development.”

One of the panelists, Dr Siyabulela Mandela, encourages the youth to participate more in politics.

“The reality is that for democracy to thrive we need the younger generation to be actively engaged and economically empowered and that will make democracy flourish and be healthy. Unfortunately we are within the context of a political situation where the young people are dealing with issues of political disillusionment which informs the disengagement in the political processes of the country.”

The IEC has a mandatory responsibility of conducting outreaches to citizens. The IEC’s local electoral coordinator, Aviwe Mbambo, says they highlight the consequences of not voting.

“We are also engaging civic and democracy education . This is an area whereby we try to capacitate the electorate on understanding why it is important to participate on elections , we try to engage them on the consequences of not participating in an election and at the same time engaging them so that we encourage them to if someone was to have a political decision will but to try and shape their willingness to be on the positive spectrum.”

Students who attended the event say they were satisfied.

“My key takeaway from today’s discussion was the whole demystifying of the process of voting, especially the counting,” says one student.

Another one adds, “Voting is not just about just going to make a cross on a paper but it is about taking action and taking responsibility of putting your future in your hands.”

The IEC outreach is an ongoing project with the next elections most likely next year. -Additional reporting by Nandipha Plaatjie