Gone are the days when the vote of South Africans in the townships was almost guaranteed for the ruling ANC.
Dozens of young people in Diepsloot who live without electricity, sometimes for weeks on end, say the period where people voted for the ANC without attaching any performance expectations is long gone.
The youth, most of them matric students from Diepsloot Combined School, told Scrolla.Africa that they will no longer be used as voting cattle by politicians who promise the world and deliver nothing.
The entire township has been on lockdown for the past month, with residents demanding a faster pace in the delivery of basic services like water and electricity and primarily the reduction of crime.
They say their streets become a killing field every Friday evening, with running battles between locals and illegal foreigners.
As Diepsloot protests intensify and a total shutdown threatens with no schools or shops operating, young people, especially learners, weighed in on the ongoing riots.
Twenty-one-year-old Thuli Nyembe said seeing residents of the township standing up for their safety was a relief.
"We live in fear in this township. Any day could be your last day as bloodthirsty criminals always terrorise us.
"We have no other place called home except for Diepsloot. We cannot surrender our homes to criminals because we have nowhere else to go," said Nyembe.
She said she will be the first one in the queue to vote in the general elections next year.
"I will not sit at home and wait for someone to decide on the ballot box for my future. I am going to vote and I will make sure I vote for a party that will make a difference in the lives of the forgotten people, especially those living in townships."
Kehumile Nyambuza, a Grade 12 learner, said she won't vote.
Her decision has to do with service delivery. "You go to any government department. Their services are just pathetic."
She singled out the Department of Home Affairs as having the slowest service delivery characterised by long queues.
She said she has lost hope that her vote would guarantee her a job in the future.
"I can't vote for a political party and expect that they will provide jobs. Politicians don't provide jobs for the poor. They want our votes so that they can live luxurious lives, leaving us in abject poverty. I am not ready to put someone in power for their self-enrichment," she said.
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Another learner, Raphael Molepo, said it pains him that his mother has been promised a house by the ANC government ever since he was born. But until today he shares a shack with his mother and other siblings. "My mother has been voting all the past years. But what has she got? Nothing."
He said that he is afraid that if students get involved in the protest, the township will be ungovernable and other townships will follow suit.
Kgalo Mashile, from Diepsloot Secondary School Number 3, said the government doesn't do anything for them. "Our school is not conducive to learning. We are overcrowded in corrugated iron classrooms.
"If politicians cared for us, we could be having good schools and proper classrooms. But all we see is promise after promise for services that are never delivered. "
On Thursday, two of the leaders of the Diepsloot Community Forum were arrested and spent the night in police cells. Residents threatened more protests should the duo not be released. Dozens of the protesters descended on the police station on Thursday night demanding the release of their leaders.
