Africa has had a long, faltered journey with regard to establishing democracies, as many nations have suffered  through decades of autocratic rulers and repeated coups d'état. Recently, Africa has been at the forefront of a democratic revitalization, as many nations now welcome a free and open political system.  The pattern of democracy is catching on throughout the continent, and the world is beginning to take notice.⁽²⁾ However, to retain a truly inclusive democratic society, everyone must be involved in the political process, but in many African nations a large segment of the population remains marginalised, namely  the youth.  In other parts of the world, the youth have played a vital role in recent elections, but in Africa, institutional and policy constraints have hindered youth involvement and left them sidelined from the democratic process. This trend is beginning to change however, as recent African elections have shown the crucial role that the youth can play in the system.⁽³⁾  This paper examines why Africa’s youth are important to the democratic process and analyses the youth’s role in the 2009 South African election and 2013 Kenyan election. Through this analysis, this paper explores how the youth can be engaged and impact African electoral democracies. 

Why Africa’s youth matters

The world is experiencing an unprecedented increase in the youth population. The United Nations (UN) categorises anyone between the ages of 15 and 24 years as the ‘youth’, and in Sub-Saharan Africa, almost 62% of the population is under the age of 25.⁽⁴⁾  Africa’s large youth population is seen by many as a potential strength of the continent. According to the Atlantic Council, for example, Africa’s youth bulge “reinforces the opportunity for economic growth that is gaining attention and foreign investment — a reality that other emerging regional and global powers, including China, India, Brazil and Turkey, have already begun to seize.”⁽⁵⁾  Africa’s youth is also the most vulnerable segment of the population however, suffering from systemic poverty, lack of education and a high rate of disease. Recent data show that unemployment amongst Africa’s youth is high, as 60% of the unemployed are between the ages of 15 and 24, making unemployment one of the continent’s most pressing issues. Young women are particularly vulnerable to unemployment and must also withstand greater acts of gender based violence and sexual assault.⁽⁶⁾

Even though leaders in Africa and beyond fear that disenfranchised young people pose an imminent threat to national security and political stability, their involvement in the political process is still limited. Instead, many African politicians have utilised the youth’s voting clout for their own political agendas, thereby exploiting Africa’s youth through the political process.⁽⁷⁾ It is this type of mentality that has created violence in recent elections.  While such violence is caused by a variety of factors that differ depending on the country or situation, it can be determined that youth involvement in election violence is often driven by dissatisfaction with government policies or with ongoing manipulation by politicians that seek to gain support by ethnic, religious, or tribal divides. Although a particular youth group might pledge support to a candidate or political party with hopes of material gains or greater political influence, these promises are often not fulfilled.⁽⁸⁾  In reality, Africa’s youth are often utilised  as pawns in the political game by veteran politicians. These occurrences have hindered the development of young political leaders and have resulted in a situation in which many young Africans fear that there is no way to peacefully assert themselves in the political system.  As the Kenyan politician, Jesse Masai, stated about the role of the youth in African politics, the “youth are leaders of tomorrow but tomorrow never seems to come.”⁽⁹⁾

Understanding the important role that youth play in the political process is vital for the future stability and growth of democracies throughout Africa. Using young people for mechanisms of change in their society through civil engagement has become an important topic surrounding recent African elections.  The African Youth Charter, for example, which was created in 2006 and adopted by many African nations, established a legal framework for basic youth rights and supports national policies, programmes and actions that favour youth development.⁽¹⁰⁾ Moreover, the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union also declared the years 2009 to 2018 as the Decade on Youth Development in Africa.⁽¹¹⁾ While most African nations follow these guidelines and have established ministries and departments that are dedicated to youth issues, African youth still remain marginalised in terms of civic engagement and electoral participation. Even countries that have policies and mechanisms in place for youth involvement seem to struggle to achieve equality when established political elites stand in the way.⁽¹²⁾ Nevertheless, many grassroots youth advocacy campaigns have begun to take shape across the continent, as the youth have successfully begun to negotiate their way into political participation and economic equality.

Numerous regional initiatives, such as the Y’en a marre (Enough is Enough) movement in Senegal or the ‘Youth Acting For Change’ programme in Mali, Togo, and Burkina Faso, have emerged in recent years with the aim of giving youth a political voice in their countries.⁽¹³⁾ Social media and communication technology have also played an important role in connecting Africa’s youth and empowering individuals to become involved in the political process.  Social media lowers traditional socio-economic barriers to political involvement and provides youth activists with a platform to build capacity with one another and to mobilise political action. New York University Professor, Clay Shirky, believes that “the more promising way to think about social media is as long-term tools that can strengthen civil society and the public sphere” and “social media can compensate for the disadvantages of undisciplined groups by reducing the costs of coordination.”⁽¹⁴⁾ These developments have allowed Africa’s youth to play a more prominent role in politics and in recent elections. The following sections will analyse the role of the youth in the 2009 South African election and the 2013 Kenyan election.

South Africa: Setting the precedent

In 2009, South Africa conducted its fourth democratic election and significant attention was given to the historically poor participation among South African youth in elections. Although South Africa’s youth played an important role in ending the apartheid era, in recent years they have suffered from generational divides that have diminished their role in the political process. In this regard, South Africa’s youth are today particularly vulnerable to issues such as unemployment, lack of education and HIV/AIDS.

At the time of the elections, it was widely believed that the youth had to become more involved in order for their voices to be heard. In the 1999 election, for example, only an estimated 43% of South Africans under the age of 35 voted. Thereafter, in 2004, this number increased to only 44.5%.⁽¹⁵⁾ Leading up to the 2009 election, candidates took notice of the influential youth vote and created programmes that tried to emulate Barack Obama’s campaign success with young voters in the United States (US).  Through social media outlets and web campaigns, political parties sought to bring their message to a broader audience and target the young voters. An example of this relates to the victorious African National Congress (ANC) party, which ran an efficient and energetic campaign that capitalised on the post-apartheid Born Free generation’s vote. The ANC‘s Youth League, which was created in the 1940s and is dedicated to youth issues, utilised  social media outlets to successfully communicate its message to young South Africans.⁽¹⁶⁾

To further encourage youth participation, the Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) created a number of progressive programmes. It established the National Youth Dialogue on Electoral Democracy, for example, which provided South Africa’s youth with a forum to voice their concerns and opinions to independent officials. This initiative found that the IEC and other institutions needed to address the youth on civic and voting engagements and, in doing so, adopt entertainment methods that would appeal to young people. The initiative also addressed many logistical concerns of South Africa’s youth, including changing voting registration dates that conflicted with school schedules and utilising unemployed youth or recent graduates as electoral officers instead of giving the positions to those that were already employed. During this dialogue, the youth called for more accountability of political parties and even suggested changing the voting age to 16.⁽¹⁷⁾ The IEC also introduced a website called ‘X for Democracy’, and utilised  celebrities in campaigns for voter education. The results were positive, as roughly 2.5 million more South Africans voted in the 2009 election. Many experts correlate the increased voter turnout to the participation of the youth and the fact that political candidates began to shape their campaigns to address youth issues.⁽¹⁸⁾  South Africa has shown great process in increasing youth inclusion and developing programmes that advocate post-apartheid ‘Born Free’ generation participation in the electoral process. Most importantly, the 2009 South African election provided a blueprint for other African nations to follow.

Kenya: Reversing the trend

Perhaps the nation that needed to follow South Africa’s lead the most was Kenya, as its disputed 2007 election led to widespread ethnic violence that resulted in over 1,300 deaths and the displacement of 600,000 more.⁽¹⁹⁾ During this period, it was Kenya’s youth that often committed these acts of violence on behalf of disputing political parties. The post election violence of 2007 hurt Kenya’s reputation as the stable economic powerhouse of East Africa, and led to perceptions of national regression because of poor governance, weak public institutions, inequality and historical injustices, and impunity for its leaders. Although the election resulted in a coalition government that established constitutional and institutional reforms to address future election issues, the world wondered if Kenya could pull off a successful election in March 2013.⁽²⁰⁾ The catalyst for change in 2013 therefore had to involve Kenya’s youth, as today 75% of Kenya’s population is under the age of 35. In order for the elections to have been a success, young Kenyans had to have understood and supported the political process.

Understanding this challenge, the international community set out to strengthen the Independent Election and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and develop conflict mediation programmes throughout the country.  The Kenyan Government, along with international partners, developed programmes to meet these objectives. Mercy Corp created a programme called ‘Yes, You Can’, for example, which involved over 500,000 Kenyan youth and established over 17,000 youth bunge or parliaments from the national to local level that helped to strengthen youth development and prevent electoral violence. Moreover, the challenge of mobilising Kenya’s youth became easier with the effective use of technology, as social media connected groups of Kenyans and short message service (SMS) systems allowed for immediate reporting of violence on the day of election.⁽²¹⁾ The National Youth Sector Alliance (NYSA) also provided forums for the government and private sector to engage with youth leaders.  Youth involvement in the election proved to evolve past tribal differences as young people emerged as active participants and had a greater influence in developing national policies. Young Kenyans also became players in this election, as 12 former bunges leaders were elected to public office.⁽²²⁾

The 2013 election demonstrated that Kenya is capable of conducting a free and peaceful election. Leading up to this event, many in the international community believed that Kenya could not recover from the disputed 2007 elections and that history was doomed to repeat itself. However, this proved to be untrue and substantial credit must be given to the role of Kenya’s youth in this process. Young Kenyans renounced violence and utilised programmes that allowed the youth to have a political voice and stake a claim in the election process. Kenyans must continue to stress this openness and forge bonds that supersede tribal and political differences in order to build a lasting national identity.

Concluding remarks

South Africa and Kenya have engaged their youth and developed programmes of inclusion. Overall though, Africa still has a long way to go to secure youth rights and remove barriers for younger political candidates. Africa’s most pressing issues, such as unemployment, lack of education, and disease, seem to have the greatest impact on its young people.  On average, African leaders are 42 years older than the median age of their constituents, and although age does not determine an individual’s capability to lead a younger population, it does show the generational divide that exists throughout African politics.⁽²³⁾ However, the role that the youth have played in critical elections,  such as those in South Africa and Kenya, as well as in recent elections in Senegal, Ghana and Sierra Leone, proves  that young Africans might finally be finding their political voices. African nations must continue to work alongside international partners to develop creative initiatives and programmes that will involve the youth and utilise technology to interact with all segments of the population.  Africa’s youth will remain the continent’s greatest asset. In order for these nations to continue along the path of political and economic development, future leaders will need to be developed and the youth must continue to become invested in the political future of their countries.

Written by Joel Lowther ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Joel Lowther through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Election and Democracy unit ( election.democracy@consultancyafrica.com). This CAI discussion paper was developed with the assistance of Keri Leicher and was edited by Liezl Stretton.
(2) ‘Democracy and the role of youth in Africa’, Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 15 November 2012, http://www.idea.int.
(3) Ibid.
(4) UNESCO website, http://www.unesco.org.
(5) Chuck, A., ‘The decisive African youth vote’, Atlantic Council, 21 December 2012, http://www.acus.org.
(6) Misra-Dexter, N., ‘Election brief - the youth vote’, The Institute for Democracy in South Africa, 2009, https://cisp.cachefly.net.
(7) Cooper-Knock, S., ‘Youth in a teenage democracy: Reconsidering the role of young people in politics’, Democracy in Africa, 7 August 2012, http://democracyinafrica.org.
(8) ‘Youth and electoral violence in Africa’, Peace & Collaborative Development Network, 30 May 2011, http://www.internationalpeaceandconflict.org.
(9) M’vunganyi, M., ‘Youth and elections in Africa - their role and impact’, Upfront Africa, 15 January 2009, http://www.upfrontafrica.com.
(10) ‘The African charter is the first legal framework in favour of youth development’, UNESCO, 4 December 2012, http://www.unesco.org.
(11) Youth and the African Union Commission website, http://africa-youth.org.
(12) ‘Democracy and the role of youth in Africa’, Institute of Democracy and Electoral Assistance, 15 November 2012, http://www.idea.int.
(13) Ibid.
(14) Safranek, R., 2011. The emerging role of social media in political and regime change. Proquest Discovery Guide, http://www.csa.com.
(15) ‘Attracting the youth vote’, South African Institute of International Affairs, 27 May 2009, http://www.saiia.org.za.
(16) Ibid.
(17) Malada, M., ‘The role of the youth in South Africa electoral democracy’, Electoral Commission of South Africa report, 2008.
(18) Smith, D., ‘South Africa’s ANC wins big election victory, final results show’, The Guardian, 25 April 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk.
(19) ‘U.N.: 600,000 displaced in Kenya unrest’, CBS News, 11 February 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com.
(20) Audi, Z., ‘The role of youth in building a more democratic Kenya’, Institute of Economic Affairs, 5 July 2012, http://www.ieakenya.or.ke.
(21) Geinger, V., ‘Largely peaceful Kenyan voting bolstered by youth technology’, United States Institute of Peace, 13 March 2013, http://www.usip.org.
(22) Ibid.
(23) Chuck, A., ‘The decisive African youth vote’, Atlantic Council, 21 December 2012, http://www.acus.org.