The following remarks were delivered today by Democratic Alliance (DA) Leader, Mmusi Maimane, as he accompanied a graduate from the Western Cape Government’s Chrysalis Academy to register to vote for the first time at the Mitchells Plain Library in Cape Town.
We are now just months away from what will certainly be a critical election for South Africa. Our country stands before a crossroads, and what we decide in May will determine the future we choose for ourselves.
For many of you, this will be the first time you have a say in how your country and your province are run. Until now, others will have decided this for you, but when you put your cross on that paper you will be charting your own future.
If you think about where we come from in South Africa and what was sacrificed to get here, the right to choose your own government is extremely precious and important. And yet there are many who will not use this right.
In our last national and provincial election in 2014, 7.3 million South Africans of voting age were not registered to vote. That was almost a quarter of all our voters, and they could have made a massive difference to the outcome of the election.
But because they perhaps didn’t fully appreciate, at the time, the significance of voting, they never had their names added to the voter’s roll. I imagine on election day, many of them would have desperately wanted to cast their votes, but by then it was too late. They had given up their most important democratic right.
Don’t let this be you. Use this weekend to make sure you are registered. See to it that your name is on the voter’s roll by taking your ID – either your green ID book, your smart card ID or a valid temporary ID certificate – to your voting station today or tomorrow between 7am and 5pm. And make sure your friends and family members do the same.
And then go and do your homework on the parties you will see on the ballot. Read up, so you know, beyond the slogans and big promises, what you will be getting in each of them. Do they have a track record that you can compare with others? And do they speak to the issues that are important in your life?
I know that young people here in Mitchells Plain face very specific challenges in life. I know that you are targeted by gangsters and drug dealers, and that it is extremely hard to steer clear of them and avoid their lifestyle.
I know that crime – and particularly violent crime – is a daily threat on your streets and in your schools. And I know that, for many of you, the dream of a better future with real opportunities in life seems distant, almost impossible.
But I want to tell you today it is possible. A South Africa where young people have a bright future to look forward to is within our reach. A South Africa where you no longer have to fear gangsters and drug dealers is entirely possible.
But the only way we will achieve this is through a government that not only understands the plight of young people, but also has a plan to help them.
I said earlier that you need to study the track records of political parties, and not just their promises. I can safely say that when it comes to opening opportunities for young people, the DA leads the field by miles. Our track record in the Western Cape speaks for itself.
From e-Learning programmes at school and the province’s After-Schools Game Changer that currently benefits 81,000 learners, to Youth Cafes, Apprenticeships and the Premier’s Advancement of Youth Internship Programme, no one takes youth development and youth opportunities more seriously than the DA.
One programme the Western Cape government is particularly proud of is the Chrysalis Academy, which offers three-month empowerment training to youths from disadvantaged communities across Cape Town. Over 6,000 young people have already benefited from this programme.
Sharon-Lee Williams, a first-time voter in the upcoming elections, recently completed her training through the Chrysalis Academy and is now doing an internship in the Western Cape Department of Community Safety.
It is my pleasure to accompany Sharon-Lee this morning to her voting station here in Mitchells Plain so that she can register. She is taking the first step today on her journey as a hands-on citizen of this country. In registering today, and then voting in May, she is exercising the power of her vote to write her own future.
I hope this is the first of many elections for Sharon-Lee. I hope that this democratic right is something she will hold dear and cherish for the rest of her life, and that she will continue to be an advocate for democratic participation among her friends, family and colleagues wherever she goes.
Your vote and my vote are incredibly powerful tools in building our future. Not only because we get to hire the government we want, but also because we get to fire a government that doesn’t work for us.
And that’s a very important thing to remember: Your vote for a specific party is not for life. You lend it to a party, and if they let you down you take it back. Therein lies your power.
I will never ask you to support the DA forever, regardless of our performance. I will only ever ask you to put your faith in us as a government for as long as we continue to serve you.
Give us that chance, so that we can build our dream country together – one united South Africa that belongs to all and works for all her people.