Download PDFThe Local Government Elections are coming soon and most political parties have come together to campaign for people’s votes. The question is are these campaigns going to be active in terms of reaching out to people and getting their votes.
On 11 September 2021, the Action SA party launched their campaign at Daveyton Mall, in Daveyton (on the East Rand of Gauteng), to get the people to vote for them. But the residents of Daveyton showed no interest in listening or participating in the campaign of the Action SA political party. Some of the residents in Daveyton said that they won’t give their votes to a political party that has showed up out of nowhere and that they [Action SA] hasn’t tried to help the community to improve their standard of living. Residents also mentioned that they have never seen the Action SA political party in Daveyton before, “but only now when it’s time for the elections do they come.”
Many people in the area said that they won’t participate in these elections because they are tired of the empty promises that politicians keep on promising them. Senior citizens of Daveyton have lost hope in elections because they have been fighting to get housing for years. Some of them said that their houses were sold to people who were not even living in Daveyton.
In Daveyton most of the people have decided to step back from the elections. Others have said that they won’t vaccinate and they won’t vote either. The youth said that they won’t vote for anything because their dreams were shattered and that these political parties have brought nothing but hardships to their lives.
From the responses of the residents of Daveyton it seems that the elections won’t be a priority to them, they don’t plan to participate or even register to vote because ‘it’s pointless’.
This article was submitted on 16 September 2021. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article (https://karibu.org.za/residents-in-daveyton-show-no-interest-in-local-elections/).
