Oct 12, 2026 · 47 min · 7 segments
With South Africa just one month away from local government elections, the biggest question may not be who wins but whether South Africans still believe winning an election can actually change their…
Justice MalalaHost
Mondli MakhanyaHost
The election is exactly one month away, but the real story isn't who is going to win.
Perhaps the real story is whether South Africans still believe winning an election can actually change their lives.
I have to tell you, I was looking at some of the figures from previous years about voter turnout.
You know, consistently, you have in national elections, people turning up and in, you know, in the 1990s, we had more than 90% of eligible voters turning up and voting.
But Local elections, 1995 below 50%, 2006 below 50% ticked up and became very good, actually, 2011, 2016, at nearly 60%.
Do people think, no, nothing happens, nothing changes? What is going on here? I mean, I was looking at some of the reports coming out at the weekend with appalling, indicating that residents say, I'm losing faith in voting because nothing ever changes.
It seems to me that people are just saying it's same old, same old and nothing will change.
And it's not just the South African phenomenon, by the way, about the fact that they draw less interest than national elections.
Because, you know, people tend to think that the bigger policies and bigger plans and implementation that happens at national level is what actually matters.
And so, yes, they have Voter turnout has gone down generally, even in national elections and over time.
But the local government elections, for some reason or another, does not generate the same level of interest, despite people going out often and burning tires regularly.
The election is exactly one month away, but the real story isn't who is going to win.
Perhaps the real story is whether South Africans still believe winning an election can actually change their lives.
I have to tell you, I was looking at some of the figures from previous years about voter turnout.
You know, consistently, you have in national elections, people turning up and in, you know, in the 1990s, we had more than 90% of eligible voters turning up and voting.
But Local elections, 1995 below 50%, 2006 below 50% ticked up and became very good, actually, 2011, 2016, at nearly 60%.
Do people think, no, nothing happens, nothing changes? What is going on here? I mean, I was looking at some of the reports coming out at the weekend with appalling, indicating that residents say, I'm losing faith in voting because nothing ever changes.
It seems to me that people are just saying it's same old, same old and nothing will change.
And it's not just the South African phenomenon, by the way, about the fact that they draw less interest than national elections.
Because, you know, people tend to think that the bigger policies and bigger plans and implementation that happens at national level is what actually matters.
And so, yes, they have Voter turnout has gone down generally, even in national elections and over time.
But the local government elections, for some reason or another, does not generate the same level of interest, despite people going out often and burning tires regularly.
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