Zahra learnt the importance of voting at school. Only in a second-year university course did she encounter the possibility of approaching an elected representative.
The Cape Town law and politics student is registered and preparing to vote for the first time, but has never taken a problem to her councillor or municipality.
“I don’t believe young South Africans are taught how to practically engage with their government.” Her experience points to a gap between encouraging young people to cast a ballot and equipping them to hold elected representatives accountable.
Encouraging that involvement is also a responsibility of local government. The Constitution includes community participation among its objectives, while municipal legislation provides for residents to contribute to decisions and raise concerns through channels including public meetings and hearings.
She nevertheless believes withdrawing from elections would undermine the change she wants. She struggles to find a party she can confidently support but regards voting as a responsibility.
Ahead of the 4 November local government elections, young people interviewed describe a tension between the responsibility to participate and doubts about whether political leaders will respond. Some will cast their first ballots. Others remain unregistered or face practical barriers to voting where they now live.
Research by the Human Sciences Research Council helps explain that ambivalence. Its analysis of South African Social Attitudes Survey data for 2024 and 2025 found that 63% of Generation Z respondents regarded voting as a civic duty. Only 23% believed their vote made a difference. The Electoral Commission’s 2021 municipal election report shows how uneven participation can be. Among registered voters aged 20 to 29, turnout was 35%, compared with 64% among those aged 60 to 69. Registered 18- and 19-year-olds recorded turnout of 71%.
These figures exclude eligible young adults who never registered. Ahead of the final registration weekend this year, the IEC said fewer than 30% of eligible 18- and 19-year-olds and fewer than half of those aged 20–29 were on the voters’ roll. Those proportions, reported on 31 July, preceded the final registration drive.
For Naledi, a 28-year-old Johannesburg attorney, the difficulty is reconciling the obligation to vote with the cost of services she says residents must provide for themselves.
“As young people, it feels like we pay for service delivery that doesn’t exist and have to invest in everything privately, such as solar inverters, JoJo tanks and private security,” she says.
She has not approached her councillor but has joined discussions with community decision-makers. In her experience, residents are left to resolve problems themselves. She has voted before, hoping for better services and relief for households struggling to put food on the table.
“Voting seems like a process of the lesser of the evils, but how do we truly know what that is?”
She wants candidates with integrity, a transparent service delivery plan and practical proposals to address gender-based violence and crime.
Thandi, a 19-year-old Johannesburg law student preparing for her first vote, is more hopeful about what participation can achieve.
“I am registered and I intend to vote. I have seen the power your vote holds and I hope that my vote can help change this city for the better.” Potholes, power outages and broken traffic lights make travelling difficult, she says. She wants infrastructure maintained and a plan backed by evidence that candidates can deliver.
“A candidate needs to have my city as their first priority, not lining their pockets.” Sipho, a Johannesburg fashion designer, wants a safer, better-managed city centre in which to work and build opportunities. Sipho is not registered and has never voted. “I have not voted before and honestly, if I had to, I wouldn’t really know who to vote for.”
Megan, a 23-year-old au pair who recently moved from Johannesburg to Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal, is registered but says she will not vote. She moved after the registration deadline and could not update her details.
“The fact that I am unable to change where I am registered makes it difficult as I am unable to vote in the town I live in currently.”
In municipal elections, voters must vote at the station where they are registered. Registration and updates to voters’ details for this election closed at midnight on 7 August.
In Johannesburg, poorly maintained roads made driving stressful and raised fears of damage to her car. Moving to a smaller community has sharpened Megan’s awareness of how the upkeep of public spaces affects daily life.
“I wanted to see our taxes being used effectively to maintain roads, improve public spaces and address everyday issues.”
In Cape Town, Amy, a 23-year-old medical student, regards voting as both a constitutional right and a responsibility. Her central concern is unequal service delivery: some communities enjoy well-maintained infrastructure and safety, she says, while others struggle to access basic services. Zahra recognises the same divide. Her own area is protected from some service failures, she says, but the disparity between wealthier and poorer neighbourhoods troubles her.
Like Zahra, Amy has never approached her councillor or municipality. She believes young people’s lack of engagement also reflects uncertainty about how to participate in local government.
Corruption and poor services make it difficult for her to place full confidence in any party. She nevertheless believes collective participation can hold political institutions accountable.
For Sibongile, a 19-year-old politics student, women’s safety is particularly pressing.
“GBV is a big concern in Cape Town and as a female student I frequently, if not always, am on guard.” She is registered and intends to vote, guided by her values, faith and responsibility to her community. She has never approached her councillor and wants accessible ways for young people to raise concerns and receive feedback.
She wants candidates to demonstrate results on safety, service delivery and fair treatment of communities, particularly women.
Leyla, from Cape Town, first voted in 2021 and regards the right to vote as a particular privilege as a woman. On her most recent voting day, she found no queue and completed the process quickly. Approaching local government between elections is less familiar.
“I’m not even sure how that process works, to be honest.”
Her concerns include roads that flood in winter, gender-based violence, public safety and the cost of living. Working in healthcare, she sees how weaknesses in the public system affect South Africans daily. Her political choices extend beyond municipal responsibilities: support for a free Palestine is a condition of her backing. Naledi cites foreign policy as a reason she cannot support the Democratic Alliance, while Zahra links Palestinian rights to the lessons of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid.
For Leyla, credibility also depends on what candidates do between campaigns.
“Many parties and candidates start getting involved with communities before elections, but I’m more inter-ested in those who are consistent throughout and trying to make a difference,” she says.
“I want to see evidence of the change they’re talking about rather than empty promises.”
Research by the Institute for Security Studies places these experiences in a wider context. In September and October, its researchers interviewed 41 township residents and community leaders in Ekurhuleni and eThekwini, most aged 18 to 35. They found distrust of formal politics alongside continued involvement in community policing, care centres and health activism.
Writing on 27 October, ISS researcher Thandi van Heyningen reported calls for learnerships with stipends, affordable business permits, fair access to municipal projects and regular meetings with councillors. The interviews were limited to two metros, but illustrate how disillusionment with parties can coexist with community involvement.
There are also signs of interest in electoral participation. The IEC recorded 754,332 new registrations across all age groups during the June and August registration weekends. It said people under 29 accounted for 46% of new registrations during the August weekend. Registration, however, is only the first step towards casting a ballot. For Lerato, responsiveness from a councillor has provided a reason to remain involved.
When water or electricity is inter-rupted without warning, Lerato says the councillor communicates the problem and gives updates on when services should return. After damaged roads made access difficult, Lerato raised the concern. Potholes were repaired within weeks.
Lerato has voted before but is discouraged by unfulfilled municipal promises of jobs. Support for youthled initiatives and practical training could help unemployed residents build livelihoods. A community centre once taught plumbing, bricklaying and electrical work. The building, Lerato says, has been vandalised and abandoned.
Representatives should understand residents’ daily difficulties, return with plans to address grievances and accept accountability for broken promises, Lerato says.
“Actually live in the area to see what we go through as a community.”
The repaired potholes offer a modest example of what several inter-viewees want: evidence that raising a concern can produce a response. For Lerato, that leaves room for hope.
“As much as we’ve been countlessly disappointed by the municipality, I still have hope that things will change.”
(Names have been changed.)