South African political landscape and the quest for youth inclusion

In most developing countries there is lack of youth’s participation in politics, this primarily stems from the state’s incapability to construct or develop sufficient platforms that encourage the meaningful involvement of citizens in political processes, particularly the youth who are the future lea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAfrican journal of public affairs Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 207 - 226
Main Authors Enaifoghe, A, Dlamini, N P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Hatfield African Consortium of Public Administration (ACPA) 01.04.2021
University of Pretoria, Economic and Management Sciences
Subjects
Accountability
African youth
Demonstrations & protests
Deprivation
Developing countries
Economic development
Empowerment
Exclusion and inclusion
LDCs
Political participation
Politics
protest
Qualitative research
Youth
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Summary:In most developing countries there is lack of youth’s participation in politics, this primarily stems from the state’s incapability to construct or develop sufficient platforms that encourage the meaningful involvement of citizens in political processes, particularly the youth who are the future leaders of today. Thus, the youth feel excluded from the political processes and to express their grievances, they tend to resolve protests and youth activism. The most ill-fated consequence of the youth sentiment of being isolated from the affairs of the state is that they are often persuaded into engaging in violent acts against the government such as protest as a result of their deprivation. This qualitative study collected its data primarily from secondary sources. The objective of the study assessed the need for youth empowerment, opportunities and challenges of engaging in South African politics. This study argues for the effective participation of youth population in political affairs for a socio-political and economic development, since the youth the key economic drivers of every economy, while responding to the research question of why does the youth engage with politics instead of engaging in politics? It concludes that youth population are the transforming dogmata, who need to be given the right platform to participate in government for accountability and development.
ISSN:1997-7441
DOI:10.10520/ejc-ajpa_v12_n1_a13