South Africa’s democracy is quietly losing its audience. Declining voter turnout, particularly among young people, reflects an erosion of trust, a weakening sense of relevance, and a growing distance between citizens and the institutions designed to represent them.
It is against this backdrop that the recent announcement by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to launch a television series and podcast to reach more young voters should be dissected. The initiatives, such as the Beat for My Peeps television series and the IEC podcast channel, signal a welcome shift in how democratic institutions seek to engage the generation that consumes information differently and interacts more digitally.
It is a good idea to go meet young people where they are; on screens, through social media, storytelling, and within popular culture. In a media environment saturated with entertainment-driven content, the IEC’s attempt to make civic education more accessible and relatable is timely and commendable.
But can democracy be revitalised through digital engagement alone? The answer, quite simply, is no.
The reason for South Africa’s democratic deficit is sustained erosion of institutional intimacy and civic connectedness between the system of democracy and the people it serves
The reason for South Africa’s democratic deficit is sustained erosion of institutional intimacy and civic connectedness between the system of democracy and the people it serves. This disengagement is not only because of a lack of information but also the absence of meaningful and sustained interaction with the various democratic institutions. Democracy feels distant, thus many see no need to engage with it, particularly at the ballot box.
This is further complicated by the uneven landscape of digital access in South Africa. While a significant proportion of South Africans are connected to the internet, high data costs, unreliable connectivity and infrastructural disparities continue to exclude many from fully participating in digital spaces.
Social media platforms are largely spaces of rapid consumption, dominated by entertainment, short-form content and reactive engagement. While they can be powerful tools for mobilisation, particularly during moments of crisis or protest, they are far less effective at sustaining deep, reflective engagement with civic education. A podcast or educational series will not bring tangible outcomes without prior, grounded exposure to democratic participation. As a result, these initiatives will barely penetrate the broader base of disengaged or first-time voters.
The pattern of disengagement is reflected in voter turnout over the past three decades. In 1994, it was exceptionally high, driven by the historic transition to universal suffrage. By 1999, turnout stood at just under 90%. However, this level of participation has steadily declined; in 2024 turnout was just 58.6% of registered voters, with only about 41% of the eligible population casting a ballot. This trend stresses the urgency of rethinking how democratic engagement should be reinvigorated and sustained.
If digital innovation is to be effective, it should not leave traditional grassroots engagement behind. What is required is a recalibration of overall strategy.
The IEC must complement its digital initiatives with a renewed and sustained commitment to on-the-ground engagement, not only in the months preceding election cycles but continuously. The current pattern, where political engagement intensifies only as elections approach, strengthens the perception that politicians engage citizens only when their vote is needed.
This approach would include regular town hall dialogues, school visits, youth desks and strengthened partnerships with civil society organisations that are embedded within communities. This would build social capital, enable more trust and allow citizens to feel more valued within the democratic process.
Crucially, civic engagement must also speak directly to the lived realities of young people especially. South Africa’s youth confront high levels of unemployment, structural inequality in education, limited economic mobility, crime and persistent service delivery failures. Civic education must therefore move beyond abstract and antagonising appeals to participation and instead demonstrate, in tangible terms, how voting and democratic engagement could influence policy decisions, governance outcomes and resource allocation to improve the lives of ordinary people.
Equally important is the need for a long-term, structural plan for civic education. There should be deeper collaboration between the IEC, the two national education departments and civil society to institutionalise civic education across the schooling and tertiary systems.
The challenge is not only to increase voter turnout but to rebuild a generation’s belief in the power of democracy itself, and this task will unfortunately demand a lot more than just digital innovation or episodic outreach
Civic education must be embedded within curricula from an early age. Studies by Unicef, the UN agency for children, show that structured citizenship education leads to measurable gains in political knowledge and participation. For example, a study in the US found an 11% increase in basic civic knowledge among students who participated in regular citizenship classes with ongoing discussions. Research in England found that students exposed to sustained civic education until their final year of schooling demonstrated 14% higher levels of political participation in early adulthood.
Brazil offers a far more comparable case as an upper-middle-income country with a relatively young democracy. Its citizenship & democracy in school programme has trained about 13,000 teachers and reached an estimated 390,000 pupils. An evaluation conducted in late 2022 across five schools in São Paulo found that the programme led to meaningful improvements in teaching practices and positively influenced children’s attitudes, values and perceptions regarding human rights and democracy.
These findings demonstrate that when children are consistently exposed to civic education, particularly within a structured school environment, improvements in political knowledge and participation can be achieved. In the South African context, however, civic education in schools often lacks substantive depth and is delivered in a limited and inconsistent manner, which constrains its impact.
In the absence of exposure to democratic principles and practices, voting has not been effectively reinforced as a habitual civic behaviour among younger citizens. This has resulted in persistently low voter registration and turnout rates among youth, who now represent the segment of the population least engaged in the electoral process.
As South Africa approaches the next electoral cycles, the challenge is not only to increase voter turnout but to rebuild a generation’s belief in the power of democracy itself, and this task will unfortunately demand a lot more than just digital innovation or episodic outreach.
• Bokveldt is CEO of Project Vote South Africa and procedural adviser in parliament.
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