On Monday 12 May, Politics@TUKS hosted the Mayor of Tshwane Dr Nasiphi Moya and the Swedish Ambassador H.E. Håkan Juholt to speak to students about political youth engagement at a societal and communal level. Both Dr Moya and Juholt mentioned a distressingly low voter turnout of 35% for the youth age group. Juholt highlighted that “trust in democracy is lacking”, and he stressed the essentiality of service delivery and youth involvement. He believes that democracy is “the building we are living in together”. Therefore, it is a collective national effort that will result in improved stability in South Africa.
Dr Moya observed that South Africa’s vision prevails quite strongly, but the implementation in legislation and policy is where we are failing as we witness the “erosion of freedoms” firsthand. Dr Moya emphasised that we should not only exercise our right to vote more frequently and purposefully, but also our right to participate as political leaders as a new generation of politics emerges. She said, “Leading is not only being in front of people, but also what you do, the conversations you introduce to your families.”
In an interview with Dr Moya, she expressed her gratitude for being invited to the University of Pretoria and for being given the opportunity to have a platform to actively engage with students’ questions and better understand their opinions and suggestions. She said that her objective is to “intentionally solicit the views of young people” and encourage their political participation. She commented on the fact that Tshwane is increasingly fortunate because it is a youthful city full of the potential for change. Dr Moya asserts that, in South Africa, “we have policies that are incompatible with the needs and visions of the young people that we are supposed to serve”, which is why she stresses the value of civic engagement and the involvement of students and young workers.
Ultimately, both Dr Moya and Juholt encouraged the pushing forward of democratic behaviour and our involvement in political initiatives and campaigns as politicians ourselves. They asserted that the effective reshaping of South African politics is up to us, and we owe it to ourselves, our peers, and our predecessors who fought for a free South Africa to implement valuable change.
