Faculty of Humanities
School of Social Sciences
Department of Political Sciences
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
In the run-up to the South African local government elections in March 2006, much was made of service delivery as a crucial issue in the elections and was considered a threat to support for the African National Congress (ANC) in particular; a threat in general to the electoral process as a key aspect of democratic expression; and a threat to democracy in the long run with voters being disillusioned to the point of rejecting elections as being meaningless.
The aim of this research project, a pilot study conducted in conjunction with the Department of Sociology among students at the University, was to determine whether or not service delivery did indeed play a role in behavior of voters.
Findings indicated that although 53% of the respondents were registered as voters, only 23% voted in the local government elections. Male respondents tended to be more interested and involved in politics and recorded a higher voting percentage than their female counterparts. The highest voting percentage was among white Afrikaners (32%) and students from Mamelodi campus (30%).
Although only 30% of voters were “satisfied” with the services delivered by their local authorities, 70% indicated that things in South Africa had improved for them and their families over the past five years.
The researchers concluded that despite the low level of voter registration and voting among young people, they tend to become more involved in “ballot box” activities over time and remain largely optimistic about the country. To the extent that voters (youth and adults) are dissatisfied with the performance of the ruling party (the party of overwhelming choice), such dissatisfaction does not point to a shift to support opposition parties
Contact person: Prof MME Schoeman.
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