{"id":220117,"date":"2022-03-23T09:36:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-23T07:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/iec-wits-launch-voter-education-campaign\/"},"modified":"2022-03-23T09:36:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T07:36:11","slug":"iec-wits-launch-voter-education-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/iec-wits-launch-voter-education-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"IEC, Wits launch voter education campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sanews.gov.za\/sites\/default\/files\/2012\/images\/newsstorytemplate\/202203\/symamabolowits.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p>A unique partnership to grow youth participation in electoral democracy as well as to encourage them to register to vote has been launched by the Electoral Commission (IEC) and the University of Witwatersrand.<\/p>\n<p>The voter education campaign was launched on the steps of the Wits Great Hall at a ceremony attended by Wits students, Electoral Commission Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo, Wits Dean of Students Jerome September, and the leadership of the Wits Student Representative Council (SRC).<\/p>\n<p>The campaign is designed to encourage students to be active, engaged and responsible citizens of South Africa\u2019s democracy, as well as make it easier for university students to go online and register to vote.<\/p>\n<p>Its objectives also include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enabling an understanding and exercising of youth\u2019s civic and democratic rights and responsibilities.<\/li>\n<li>&nbsp;Growing an empowered electorate within the student population.<\/li>\n<li>Cultivating a culture of democracy and active citizenry in the student community.<\/li>\n<li>Increasing voter registration in the student population.<\/li>\n<li>Enhanced voter participation in both SRC elections and national, provincial and local elections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mamabolo said the IEC was proud to launch the important partnership with Wits students during Human Rights month 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe primary aim of this campaign is to cultivate and instil a culture of electoral democracy and active citizenry among students in both the public and private institutions of higher learning and to enhance voter registration and voter participation in both SRC elections and in national, provincial and local government elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is our firm belief that engaging students\u2019 views about democracy and elections through voter education based dialogue will enhance voter participation among this particular group of the electorate population,\u201d Mamabolo said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis partnership between the IEC and Wits University is important because universities are spaces that shape society and shapes the future,\u201d said September.<\/p>\n<p>September added that by partnering with the IEC, the university is coming together in building \u201cour nation and ensuring that young people who will be leaders in society going forward actively participate, register to vote in a way that shapes our future and builds our democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVoting for me is the loudest decision I make in silence. It is young people and young people-led organisations that will lead to change in South Africa and the Africa continent. It is young people who have led us and will continue to lead us through generational revolutions as agent of progress and bridges to the communities,\u201d said SRC Deputy President Lesego Louw. \u2013&nbsp;<strong>SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A unique partnership to grow youth participation in electoral democracy as well as to encourage them to register to vote has been launched by the Electoral Commission (IEC) and the University of Witwatersrand. The voter education campaign was launched on the steps of the Wits Great Hall at a ceremony attended by Wits students, Electoral [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-220117","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-sanews","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/iec-wits-launch-voter-education-campaign.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}