#Elections2016: Voter apathy rife, survey reveals

Published Jul 29, 2016

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Cape Town - Politicians were “unsurprisingly” more enthusiastic about politics and the elections than the voters, a survey has revealed.

The authors of the Human Sciences Research Council’s SA Social Attitudes Survey on Thursday speculated on why this might be and suggested various possible explanations for this scenario.

They indicated that voters were so sceptical of politicians that they had put themselves forward as candidates in the belief they could do a better job themselves.

In addition, the depressed economic climate had led more people to see political office as an employment opportunity.

A political office was also increasingly being seen as a means to secure access to public resources for personal or sectional benefit.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), at the launch of the national results operations centre in Pretoria, revealed that more political parties and candidates than ever would be contesting next week’s elections.

However, the survey released on Thursday indicates they will be facing a more disenchanted electorate than in previous polls. This suggests enthusiasm for politics is much higher among politicians than among voters.

The IEC has announced there would be a record 200 parties and 61 014 candidates chasing votes, but more than half of South Africans - or 57% - say they are dissatisfied with the current political leadership.

There were also a number of other records such as the unprecedented number of voters, with 26.3 million people registered. This includes a record number of special vote applications, more than 740 000, which is three times that of 2011.

The local government election will also see record number of voting stations 22 612 and 9 301 councillor positions, as well as 855 independent candidates.

The records continued with unique ballots at 4 649 and the largest ballot paper ever - an A3 sized proportional representation ballot paper to accommodate a record 37 parties contesting the City of Cape Town.

The authors of the survey noted an “intriguing correlation” between the poor local government audit outcomes in Limpopo, North West and the Northern Cape and the proliferation of new parties and candidates in those provinces.

“If the increased number of parties and candidates reflects a commitment by aspirant candidates to get involved and disrupt increasingly entrenched patrimonial hierarchies, local democracy may be about to undergo a long overdue revival,” the study's authors said.

“It is possible, however, that some newly elected leaders seek merely to take power to appropriate public resources for themselves.”

They suggest transparency in private funding of political parties might be one “tool” to help voters distinguish the “possible range of agendas” of those standing for office.

“Local democracy cannot thrive, or survive, if elections are seen as merely a scramble for resources,” they concluded.

While 57% of South Africans were dissatisfied with the current crop of political leaders, just more than a quarter, or 28%, were satisfied, according to the survey.

Although racial minorities were the least satisfied, even among black Africans more than half - 51% - were dissatisfied.

Levels of satisfaction declined from 37% of black African respondents in 2011 to 33% last year.

However, there was no significant difference in attitudes towards politicians between younger and older voters.

These high levels of disillusionment have not translated into a loss of faith in democracy itself, which the organisation suggested showed a “bifurcated (dual) attitude” among voters.

On the one hand, they were sceptical of political leaders but, on the other, continued to believe democracy was the best system.

This was reflected by the 63% of those who said they would vote. - Additional reporting by Sakhile Ndlazi

Elections Bureau

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