Young South Africans see little hope from voting

JOHANNESBURG – A new generation of South African voters with little memory of apartheid doubts today’s election will meet hopes of change in a country where some leave high school unable to use a computer.

With its credentials still strong for ending white minority rule, the African National Congress (ANC) is set to keep power. Party leader Jacob Zuma, who spent 10 years in jail with Nelson Mandela, is to be named president.But the youth vote will be a test of how long Africa’s oldest liberation movement can keep its hold when it has to deliver on concerns such as stopping violent crime, ending poverty and fighting AIDS.’I do not really care about the years they spent in exile. Right now I want results, said Shaun Rabany, 20. ‘What they did was great but they must not hide behind that.’Reuters interviews with 108 young South Africans revealed widespread discontent and apathy ahead of the fourth election since apartheid ended. Some of those voting now were only three when Mandela won the first democratic election in 1994.Mandela is still admired by South Africa’s youth, but there is less praise for Zuma, who until earlier this month faced corruption charges that were only dropped on a technicality.South Africans are more likely to look abroad for heroes such as new US President Barack Obama.’I will only vote when someone like Obama who knows how to connect to youth starts a party here,’ said Lungiswa Booi, who has just become eligible to vote at 18. High school student Lesego Kenalepe, 16, said her hero was American actor Nicolas Cage.’I just like him. I don’t know why,’ she said.LITTLE EXCITEMENTEven among first-time voters there is little excitement – a far cry from the enthusiasm of 1994 when millions stood in snaking lines until everyone had the chance to vote.’Sometimes I feel like I am obliged to vote for the ANC because of the struggle. But the truth is that was then, and I do not really identify myself with the struggle. As youth we are left alone to try and survive,’ said Dineo Langa (20), a student.Of 23,1 million registered voters, 6,4 million are between 18 and 29 – nearly one third.Still full of energy and charm at 67 and equally comfortable in expensive business suits or his traditional tribal wear, Zuma made an appeal to younger voters at the last election rally.’We learnt from you that it is ‘cool’ to be in the ANC and that the ANC ‘rocks’!,’ he said.But the language of liberation, and Zuma’s anthem ‘Umshini wami’ (Bring Me My Machine Gun), may have less appeal.’Political parties need to motivate us if they want us to get involved. We are on Facebook and on MXit (a mobile-based instant messaging service). They must talk to us with the language we understand,’ said Zukiswa Mlanjwa (20), a student who will vote for the first time.And what young South Africans want to hear is how Zuma plans to deliver a future free of rampant crime, poverty and an AIDS epidemic – problems the ANC has promised to tackle since 1994 without much success.Millions of poor black South Africans still live in grim townships in a country that has one of the world’s highest rates of violent crime. Around 1 000 people die every day from AIDS-related illnesses.Disappointment, not wealth, trickles down to the young in places like Alexandra township, not far from glitzy malls which symbolise economic growth that has mostly benefited whites and black millionaires linked to the ANC.THE REALITYAt the Alexandra High School, student leaders spoke of the long list of things they don’t have enough of – computers, books, laboratories. Students scramble for desks to avoid standing all day long. Toilets overflow in the bathrooms.Newspaper clippings with maps of Africa are pinned up on walls because there are no proper maps.’It’s disgraceful that students will leave the school not knowing how to log on to a computer,’ said Colleen Setlhodi, who is in charge of buying school supplies.Xolani Kunene, an articulate 17-year-old, wants to be a chemical engineer. But he must tame his dreams. ‘The teachers say they are still getting paid in any case so they don’t care if you learn or not,’ he said.Many never leave the township, a sea of corrugated iron and cinder block huts. Two men fixing a car listened to music, one of the few escapes from raw sewage and piles of garbage.’We’ve got it going now,’ say the lyrics of the song. ‘You are the future.’ – Nampa-Reuters