Matra power plant. (Eskom)
Ahead of next month's general elections, South Africans want political parties to prioritize tackling the country's energy crisis and fighting corruption, a survey has found.
According to a survey by Nguvu Collective, an international development agency, the majority of respondents (85.5%) selected load reduction as the main issue that requires immediate resolution.
Corruption was cited as a close second problem in the Nguvu Collective survey, with 83% of respondents saying corruption is intertwined with the energy crisis.
“The purpose of the survey was to understand the trends of the people ahead of the elections, to get their voices heard publicly and to draw attention to political parties,” said Noxolo Mfokwa of the Nguvu Collective..
The survey, conducted in February after the May 29 election date was announced, asked 3,377 people in all nine states via email and social media what they thought were the country's most pressing issues. Ta. Respondents were 48.2% female, 51.2% male, and the remainder were transgender and non-binary people.
According to the Ngvu Collective, women and girls are the most affected by the energy crisis because they carry out the majority of household chores.
According to Modern Energy Cooking Services' 2023 report, at least 77.7% of South African households use electricity for cooking. Once the burden is eased, it becomes the responsibility of women and girls to find other ways to cook for their families.
“Depending on their class background, this ranges from cooking on open fires powered by biomass or coal, to cooking on paraffin or gas stoves in lower and middle class households without access to off-grid electricity such as solar. It could mean anything, even cooking,” Mfokwa said.
Transparency International gave South Africa a score of 41 on a scale of 0 ('highly corrupt') to 100 ('very clean') on its Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking it a 'flawed democracy'. It is reported that it falls under the category of
Of the 180 states included in the index, ranked according to which country has the most honest public sector, South Africa came in 83rd place.
“Impunity regarding corruption makes it extremely difficult for citizens to trust the government,” the Nguvu Collective said.
Crime was the third most pressing issue for survey respondents at 79.8%, highlighting the need for urgent government intervention to address rising youth unemployment and failing public infrastructure.
Other priorities in the top 10 were health care, education funding, gender-based violence and femicide, food security, and the migration crisis.
While announcing the crime statistics for the second quarter of 2023-24, the Minister of Police said:
Bheki Cele said 10,516 cases of rape and 1,514 attempted rapes had been recorded in South Africa.
In July, August and September, there were 14,401 murders and assaults against female victims.
881 women were murdered during the same period.
Ngvu Collective said these statistics show a lack of citizen participation
Even though 18 to 34 year olds make up one-third of the population, it has a lot of support from younger age groups.
“The main similarities between our research and the national voter registration process are:
“Both are largely conducted online, which can be directly related to the level of access to the internet among young South Africans,” the Nguvu Collective study found.
This reflects South African Electoral Commission voter registration statistics which show that the 18-29 age group has the lowest number of registered voters.
Reflecting a country where youth unemployment stands at 43.4% and the average cost of data is R34.69 per gigabyte, the Nguvu Collective report said: It is a form of online citizen participation. ”
The group said it would present its findings to political parties and organizations to help people make informed decisions when voting on May 29.
