Rivonia Circle launches doccie to up campaign to encourage voting

Civil organisation Rivonia Circle will, as part of its campaign to get more people to vote, launch a documentary which will address and spark conversations around voting. 

Titled We The Voters, the doccie will be screened at Freedom Park in Pretoria on Saturday. It follows nine people from all works of life as they talk about their concerns around voting.  

Rivonia Circle director of programmes Tessa Dooms said the documentary is a civil society campaign towards the upcoming elections on May 29. 

“We have partnered with other civil society and community-based organisations. This campaign is a call to action to get as many people as possible to show up and vote in the coming elections even if they are not party aligned,” said Dooms. 

She said millions of people who were registered to vote didn't show up and millions more didn't register at all. "We are trying to send out the message that as voters, we have the responsibility to encourage each other to vote.

“These political parties vote as a group, and we have internalised the idea that we vote as individuals. We are saying voting is a group assignment and that we should start talking to each other as voters about why we vote, the motivation behind voting and even how we are making our voting choices. 

“I believe that we can have these conversations openly without forcing each other to tell who we are voting for. Politicians usually focus on their members, people who are in their database and supporters, while most of the voters are left ignored,” said Dooms. “Majority of voters are not party aligned; therefore, they never get the platform to have conversations about voting.” 

To reach out to voters, Rivonia Circle have come up with tools of conversations, which will enable voters to talk to each other about voting and its importance.  For the past few months, they have hosted about 40 voter conversations across the country.

“Usually before the elections, everyone focuses on political parties, politicians and what the media is saying. What I hate seeing the most is people inviting politicians, where they will sit on the stage and talk for 30 minutes, while voters get only 30 seconds to ask a question or give their opinion.  

“We make sure that we do not even invite political parties because they always take centre stage at a time like this. We are centering the voter as the most important person, it’s not the media or politicians. It’s about the voters who get to decide the elections. It’s the people who show up who should be listened to, we must hear their concerns and encourage others to vote as well.”

Dooms also said voters can find a chatbot on the Rivonia Circle website, where you can send questions about voting and get responses. 

“We also have Thoko The Bot, you can chat about your voting experience on the platform. Apart from that, there is also a board game which can be played with friends and family. Some of the questions are about political parties' manifestos, how the election process works, fun things about how to get votes... we have added the fun element.  

“People are not going to go out there to read these manifestos, people cannot go and read about the IEC process about three ballots. You learn while you have fun and interact, it stimulates the mind and gets people talking freely and easily,” said Dooms.