/ 20 April 2007

ANC Youth League wants lower voting age

A renewed push for the voting age to be lowered to 16 will be made at the African National Congress (ANC) policy conference this year, the ANC Youth League said on Friday.

”We … intend to place this position firmly on the agenda of the ANC’s policy conference,” league president Fikile Mbalula said in Johannesburg. ”We are convinced of the correctness of our call for the lowering of the voting age to 16 years.”

Mbalula spoke at a policy dialogue to discuss the youth league’s agenda for the upcoming policy conference.

He said: ”Surely it cannot be that we have lowered the age of an important matter as sexual consent to 16, yet our youth … are nonetheless prohibited from political participation in electing a government of their choice.”

Turning to gender issues, Mbalula said the league also intends calling for half of all ANC and government structures to be staffed by women.

”It is important to understand that this call is not simply about numbers, but about [an] … empowerment programme that regards women as partners rather than mere beneficiaries in their empowerment.” — Sapa