A group of first-year law students at the University of Cape Town (UCT) have created an innovative tool to educate voters about South Africa’s political landscape.
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The non-profit Instagram account, SoWeVote, looks to address voter concerns by condensing often-dense policies into bite-size nuggets, UCT writes.
‘We don’t exist to push people in a certain direction, but we are there to highlight what they need to know (…) to make decisions,’ says Thaafir Mustapha, one of the founders.
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Mustapha previously worked with a Member of Parliament (MP) and now leverages his insight to inform SoWeVote’s voter education efforts.
‘In a sense, SoWeVote is not only about young people, but also young, fresh ideas because you could have young people perpetuating old ways of thinking and I felt the way to get that message across is through the vote because in that way you actualise the power that you have,’ he adds.
‘Through the vote, it’s about making people feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves, which is South Africa, and realising that we didn’t get to where we are now by being individualistic and complacent with the way things are being run right now.’
‘We must aspire to be better, and the vote is a tangible way to get people to do that.’
On 29 May, 27 million South Africans registered to vote, although only 16 million voted. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) expected that 4.3 million would be young voters.
🧑⚖️What if I told you there’s a position in government so powerful that it directs the national conversation and its actions at the highest level… #Sowevote #SApolitics #Civics #Democracy pic.twitter.com/tRWTcxlM9I
— SoWeVote 🇿🇦 (@sowevote) March 29, 2024
Mustapha says SoWeVote started small and organically. ‘We didn’t know it was going to be an organisation on the scale that it’s on right now, but we did start by speaking to people in our communities and schools, asking probing elections questions around voting and registration.’
‘And there was quite a lot of disdain aimed at politics as a concept and that drives home the need to change the culture.’
He says he and his team aim to demonstrate the ‘real-life implications of certain things and make it easier for people to identify their values in things like politics [because] people learn politics through learning about themselves and how their values shape politics, and so over time their politics will evolve as they do.’
‘It’s about people thinking independently using the information. Our strategy is also using the politicians themselves for information and then we package it for our audience,’ he adds.
‘It always serves up an interesting dilemma because sometimes what a politician says and what the facts state are at odds.’
— SoWeVote 🇿🇦 (@sowevote) March 3, 2024
He says there is still more to do, and the team is now aiming to include ineligible voters in the conversation.
‘I want people to participate in elections because people fought long and hard for the rights we have now, and we need to exercise them.’
‘I’m also sympathetic to people who feel a level of disdain towards the system; now we are building on civic voter education and the earlier we get the message to the younger audience, the better because you’ll have a generation that is strong and resolute way before they need to go to the voting booth.’
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Picture: OJ Koloti / Gallo Images