‘Your participation matters’: Manamela calls on young South Africans to vote
With millions of South Africans heading to voting stations on Wednesday, Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela has called on eligible students and young people, particularly first-time voters, to exercise their democratic right.
South Africans began voting Wednesday in local elections to decide leadership for eight main city municipalities, 44 district councils, and 205 local councils. The elections are viewed as an evaluation of the African National Congress, the party that led the country out of white minority rule. According to The Guardian, the party is expected to receive less than a third of the vote due to public discontent regarding power cuts, water outages, and crumbling infrastructure.
Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela has called on eligible students, young people, and first-time voters to exercise their democratic right. ABC News (US) reports that Johannesburg, the country's economic hub, serves as a key battleground. The city is currently managed by a fragile ANC-led coalition but is a target for the Democratic Alliance, which has put forward former national leader Helen Zille for mayor.
Brief written by urgent.news from IOL, ABC News (US), The Guardian — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
