2024 Election brief: SA’s biggest turning point in 30 years
In case you have been living under a rock, the 2024 elections are being billed as one of the most crucial in the country’s 30 years of democracy.
For years, the ANC’s dominance at the polls has been steadily declining. This came to a head for the party in 2021, when it received just 46% of the vote in the municipal elections – a drop from the 2019 national and provincial election, where the ANC got 57.5% of the vote.
Recent surveys have indicated that the ANC could have a hard time holding onto its dominance and might not achieve the 50% of votes needed to stay in power.
Just over 26 million voters are registered to vote in the 2024 election, with 568 374 registering for the first time in November 2023. There will be one final voter registration weekend in February.
The major concern, however, is whether people will turn out to vote in the face of the country’s socio-economic challenges.
Vote turnout over the years has also seen a steady decline. In 1994, the voter turnout was 86.6%, while just over 66% turned up for the last national election in 2019. The 2021 voter turnout was only 45.86%. With low numbers of first-time voters registering, 2024 could see even further decline.
If this trend continues, fewer people will be actively involved in shaping democracy in South Africa.
In this week’s Friday Briefing, former member of the Press Gallery Association in Parliament and News24’s assistant editor of investigations Pieter du Toit takes a hard critical look at the ANC, the DA, the EFF and the IFP in a series of analysis columns ahead of the 2024 elections. He also turns his sights on the Multi-Party Charter and whether they will be able to achieve what they have set out to do.
If Du Toit’s analysis is anything to go by, you better tighten your seatbelt, as we are in for a bumpy 2024 election ride.
Best,
Vanessa Banton
Opinions editor.
CARTOON BY CARLOS | Truth Bomb | 5 January 2024