Johannesburg – 2021 has been a long and challenging year for our leaders as the country headed to the polls for the Local Government Elections (LGE).
However, things took a fine turn when we witnessed the aspiring youth of South Africa rocking the political space.
Here are some of these amazing youngsters:
Jason White
White is South Africa’s youngest councillor and Knyasna’s youngest ever.
Born and raised in Knysna; the 23-year-old White matriculated from Knysna Secondary School in 2015 as deputy head boy.
During one of his interviews with Cape Talk this year, he told South Africans that he aspires to influence young people to partake in politics and seek change.
Christiaan Hendrik Nicolaas Carstens
Carstens (20) is a first-year UNISA from Jeffrey’s Bay in the Eastern Cape’s Kouga municipality.
He emerged as the African National Congress’ (ANC) youngest candidate running for Ward 8 councillor.
Zizo Vokwana
23-year-old Vokwana ran in ward 9 in the Stellenbosch Municipality, although she only secured 25 votes under the ANC, the provincial deputy chairperson for the South African Students Congress said she will continue participating in community work.
Tshiamo Malatji
Malatji (23) contested ward 19 in the Mangaung metro in the Free State as an independent candidate with interests in lobbying for initiatives such as food gardens, boosting entrepreneurship, and keeping a close eye on the incoming leadership.
Mikhail Manuel
Lastly, we have the phenomenal 30-year-old Manuel representing the Democratic Alliance.
He took over from Ian Iversen as ward 59 councillor in the City of Cape Town metro.
These young people may seem aspiring and ready to tackle the long-lasting service delivery issues in South Africa however, the question is ‘will they actually stick to their promises and deliver as well convince the youth to partake in politics?’. We have a long way to go to the next elections, May the best man prosper.
Also read: Dube-Ncube urges new councillors to improve service delivery
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