Voter Registration | SALGA urges youth to register to vote

[00:00:00]As this voter registration drive is continuing, then the South Safan Local Government Association has added its voice to calls for young people in particular to go out and register to participate in the elections come November. Let's get you the view now of the spokesperson for Sala bringing to the conversation Mutal Muda. Good to have you Mutal on SABC News. Um let's talk about what you as the local government commission or the local government association, pardon me, have been doing to ensure that you also encourage young people to actually head out and register.

[00:00:33]>> Um thank you uh Tiko for this opportunity. Look, um, obviously as the South African Local Government Association, we've been concerned at the fact that there seems to be a a growing disengagement, low motivation among young people in terms of participating in this democratic process and therefore we took it upon ourselves as Salaga that we cannot sit back given that the local government elections at the heart of it is making sure that every stakeholder, every sector of the economy of the communities get involved in in in this elections. We had to go out and ensure that we mobilize young people. We've got the South African Local Government Association Youth Commission, which is really a commission that is headed up by young counselors who are under 35 and they have developed a program that involves um going on the ground having conversations with young people um using multimedia platforms to engage with young people. We've been having um webinars. We've been having uh X spaces conversations to basically engage with young people across um various uh sectors uh young leaders, young people in different spaces to really understand what are some of the agitating issues that are leading to them saying they're not interested in participating but also presenting a case to them to say look um the future of local governance rests in the hands of young people and therefore it's important that they maximize there this opportunity for them to be able to make their voice heard by first [snorts] participating in these elections but also making sure that they also get to participate even beyond elections.

[00:02:11]>> But how do you convince them when their first disappointment with government and governance happens at a local government level when they look around refuge is not being collected. There's sewage in some communities that has been flowing for weeks if not even years on end. So it feels when they look at how their parents have participated in election after election in a deteriorating locality as if it's a pointless pursuit.

[00:02:39]Look, if you look at uh the young people in South Africa in terms of how young people have always been involved as part of changing status quo, you would know that I mean we just recently celebrated June 16 and if we were to look back at 1976, we saw how young people were instrumental in turning the tide against BU education. We saw in the 1980s how young people were again instrumental in making sure that they push back against a a militarized aarted system.

[00:03:08]In post 1994, we have seen young people also agitating for greater access in so far as education is concerned. If looking at things like your fasma fall and as a result of that, there's been policy changes. There's been changes that that are visible for all of us to be able to see. And therefore, we're saying to the youth of today that um what confronts them is issues of high unemployment. It's issues of in deep [clears throat] inequality and of course the continuing economic exclusion. And therefore we're saying that the the response is not to stay away but the response is to mobilize themselves to actually realize that collectively they hold the key to turning the tide ensuring that the the voice of young people is heard quite loudly but also in influencing what needs to happen because we'll all agree that South Africa is a relatively young country and therefore it's important that even in the kind of policy formulation and the kind of interventions that are are being made that those intervention respond to the current urgent pressures that young people are feeling. And therefore, the message that we've been carrying to young people is that the solution to what is currently happening is not for them to stay away, but it's for [clears throat] them to organize themselves the same way previous generations have been able to organize themselves and agitate for change. And we're seeing that change. And part of the benefit that young people are enjoying today is because of their predecessors um when they were confronted with um perhaps a different type of situation, but they were able to mobilize themselves. And we're saying there are lessons that can be learned from there for the youth of today to be able to stand up and say it is our time.

[00:04:44]And part of them making their stand is ensuring that they get to elect the right people into office. But is part of the solution then not in the restructuring of perhaps who is elected and how and local government itself to make it more more responsive to the needs of the communities that ultimately it's meant to serve.

[00:05:07]Look um as as Sal our viewpoint is that um local government can only get stronger to an extent that communities when they um go to the ballot they think thoroughly about the type of people that they are electing who are going to then represent their interest at the local government level. And therefore we we we we become a byproduct of the the the leaders that are emerging out of this democratic process. And part of the call that we've made is that those people that are capable within society, even among young people who have an interest in in serving and and in ensuring that change actually happens, they should raise their hands and actually step forward so that they can also contribute towards building a a better local governance system so that the seventh um administration of local government that we're going into would become a a system that is responsive, a system that is able to um um create a conducive environment for economic development to take place, a conducive environment for for for young people to also thrive, but also for development to take place within communities. And you would have already seen now the kind of inputs that we have made as sa into the draft local government white paper where we've said we've taken stock of the last 30 years and we've seen where the shortfalls are where the gaps are and we've actually advocated for a transformed local government system where there is the right people who are in who are placed in the right positions but also there's the capacitation the funding and all the areas that people have raised as a bond of con so that local government can truly play um a strategic role in driving um development within communities.

[00:06:53]>> And what about the the the blurring of the lines perhaps mixing of the issues and responsibilities between local and national government because in listening to some of the interactions that we've had with many South Africans today, they're very valid community and local government level disappointments, right, that they've expressed. But there is also um a trend that emerges when issues that ultimately fall within the ambit of national government are creeping into how people decide whether they will participate in elections or not even in their locality.

[00:07:28]This has been a growing concern for us obviously as the South African Local Government Association in terms of saying that um we we we we need to ensure that um there's a differentiated approach but also to ensure that the various spheres of um government they each get play their respective roles.

[00:07:47]You would know that currently um in terms of the constitution 46% of um services that people have to receive are residing in a local government. But if you look at for example the funding mechanism that we currently have the the local government only gets about just above 9% of what is collected in the fiscals. And that also creates a a bit of a challenge in terms of um the the encroachment that you're talking about because if um the funding is at national but yet the the the work that needs to happen at the local government level you are ultimately going to create a situation where there's a disjuncture because those that control the funding would want to dictate how certain things happen and and and no wonder you see that that then communities when when they come to local government they tend to then obviously conflate certain issues. in the current uh review of the white paper. That is one of the issues that is also being addressed to ensure that um local government is not seen as a a lesser of the three spheres of government but it's fully acknowledged as a sphere of government that has got a responsibilities and a mandate that is derived from the constitution and therefore even the way in which the funding mechanism um of of of local government is currently structured would need to be reviewed so that local government can get the proper e share in terms of the equitable share that goes into the various spheres of government to ensure that um local government can fully full fully be accountable for its functions. But then we have a clear distinction in terms of the separation of roles between what we call unfunded [clears throat] mandates which are mandates that are at the national and provincial level that gets put devolved into local government but without the necessary funding and therefore creating a gap and hence society would then be agitated to say but we're expecting services to be rendered but we're not seeing those services and h the the the sphere that is closest to us is local government and hence it would then go to local government to raise their particular concern. We addressing those things um in the in in the review of the white paper because we have recognized this as a sharp gap that needs to be addressed to ensure that um local government gets to be truly empowered in so far as what the constitution ascribed to uh the functions of local government that we're saying function must be followed by resources so that we don't have a situation that is currently existing now where unfortunately local governments are unable to fulfill its mandate because of skewed skewness in in in in funding And this is not to also overlook some of the gaps that we've seen in in in the local government space which are currently being addressed.

[00:10:26]>> Mala, spokesperson for the South African Local Government Association. We appreciate your time on SABC News.