In celebrating Youth Month 2022, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) took up the slogan #YouthVoteMatters to anchor its resolve to bring in young people to participate in electoral democracy processes. To strengthen the value of this mantra, KZN IEC in partnership with the Democracy Development Program convenes a youth-led summit to look at this slogan in two different ways. First as a systematized undertaking of inventory checking or a stock-taking exercise of youth issues pertinent to electoral democracy; and secondly to highlight the historic significance of youth involvement in social change the world over.
The objectives of the session are to:
Engage in a robust dialogue with young people about participating in electoral processes;
Establish what is available within our scope to overcome challenges they face;
Promote voter registration and voter turnout;
Bring other stakeholders especially young people onto our platform to drive the program and share information to empower other young people with useful information.
This engagement was held at Elnageni Hote in Durban on the 13 July 2022, and was attended by young people from all the municipalities in KZN region, from Ethekwini, Ugu, Abaqulusi, etc.