OPINION | LGE 2026 – Nothing’s ever promised tomorrow today: DE Williams

“And I heard ‘em say nothing’s ever promised tomorrow today,” American rapper Kanye West on the track, Heard ‘Em Say.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) announced the first of two voter registration weekends set to take place on June 21 -22 in preparation for the 2026 Municipal Elections.

Whenever I see the word ‘registration’, my mind always wanders to the controversial artist, Kanye West, and his Late Registration music album.  West reflects our youth, especially the working-class black millennial and Gen-Z youth.  Adults don’t get him.

They think it is a music thing because they liked hip hop as produced by the Sugar Hill Gang and Tupac.  West’s type of sarcasm and wit is distant to them.  He seems to come across as rude and entitled.

The adults and the mainstream culture judge West harshly.  They show him no sympathy, let alone empathy. In return, West tries to show that he does not care what they think about him (but obviously he does) by becoming even more controversial and attacks all that he thinks is precious to them. West stands with Donald Trump and supports his reactionary ‘Make America Great Again’ movement.  He tells African Americans that “slavery seemed to be a choice,” as if African Americans wanted to be slaves and had a choice not to be one, and as corporate America started to get fed up with him, he then became anti-Semitic and attacked people of Jewish faith.

Today, although West’s music is not played as much on radio stations does not mean that the youth have moved on. In many ways, the South African youth reflect the same attitude.

The working-class youth do not believe they are loved or listened to. They know that society genuinely thinks that they sound entitled and selfish.  The youth believe it is their time now, but the stage is dominated by the old people.

Like West, they fight back irrationally. They refuse to participate in anything that helps the establishment unless they get something directly in return.  They follow the 1960s LSD drug icon Timothy Leary’s philosophy, ‘Turn Out, Tune In, Drop Out’.

Political parties are forced to organise free t-shirts, mobile phone data and airtime for youth volunteers, even braais and refreshments.

Gone are the struggle days when the youth will be the most politically active, without being compensated. Many youth political party volunteers use the political party for these ‘freebies’ and then not even vote for the selfsame party.

It is not that they do not understand the importance of democracy, but they do not believe that democracy and its institutions take them individually seriously. They think that getting a job and becoming somewhat successful is more down to “who you know and not what you know.”  So why should they even bother?

Well, if they honestly believe that no one is out there batting for them, and they can only rely on themselves, then the question we need to ask them: ‘Why then work against yourselves?’

These institutions that they despise so much are the only institutions that have the authority, ability, and capacity to help them. If they ignore these institutions, it will be dominated not just by those who do not care about the issues of the youth, the poor and the working-class communities, but especially by those who are working against their interests! They are the ones who want and need them to drop out, so that they can remain or become their servants and beggars!

But it is not just the youth who have shirked their responsibilities as citizens. It’s also working-class parents.  Just look at registration and voting queues; the elites register and vote as families.  They are grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, son, daughter, even at times son-in-law and daughter-in-law, queueing together. Parents do not take the responsibility to queue with their kids and grandchildren to register and vote.

Indeed, the South African constitution allows for a protest vote.  You can spoil your ballot paper or not vote.  However, if you wish to stay away and not vote as a protest because you are angry with the lack of delivery, then it will only count if you register to vote and then not vote.  If you do not register, your stayaway will mean ‘dololo’, ‘niks’!

So come on, if we want this democracy to work for us and not leave it to those who are exploiting it for their own narrow and selfish interests, then we should go out and register in numbers.

We should be going to register as families, as friends, and as people with rights.

Registering to vote is an act of a revolutionary!

Donovan E Williams is a social commentator.  You will find him on X @TheSherpaZA.