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The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has reflected growth in its voters’ roll, announcing that it had 2.9-million voter registration hits over the past registration weekend.This is an improvement from the 1.7-million voter registration transactions during the registration weekend in the previous municipal elections in 2021.Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo hailed the registration drive as successful, saying that general voter registration drives before an election serve at least two purposes.“The first is to enlist new entrants on the roll. The second is to enable registered voters to inspect their details, and if necessary, to update them to ensure that they are assigned to voting districts in the wards in which they reside. This is significant because in local government elections, there is no statutory opportunity for a voter to vote at a voting station in which they are not registered.“According to the CEO, they also aim to ensure that eligible South Africans are registered and correctly assigned to their respective voting districts.After this past registration weekend, the total number of registered voters is 28.5-million.Out of the 2.9-million registrations recorded, 477,174 were first-time registrations. This accounted for 16% of the total registration activity.The commission also revealed that voters who inspected and updated their details account for 2.4-million, which is 84% of the total activity.Mamabolo said the commission noted the collaborative efforts by various political parties to marshal South Africans towards registration.“We wish to acknowledge political parties, local community leaders and prospective candidates’ efforts in assisting voters to register on the online portal as well as at the registration stations.”The commission reported that it is still processing about 30,000 pending online registrations emanating from this weekend regarding registration applications received.“The applications are pending primarily due to the quality of the ID image voters uploaded. Our teams will process those transactions, and if necessary, affected voters will be contacted.” The CEO reminded citizens who have not yet registered that the online voter registration portal will remain available until the official proclamation of the 2026 local government elections.Mamabolo said the commission will embark on more initiatives to expand voter access before the elections, which include the zero-rating of the online voter registration portal.“This will allow all eligible South Africans to register, update their details and verify their registration information without incurring data charges.”The electoral commission will also host a second voter registration weekend, which will take place on August 1 and 2.“This additional weekend will provide opportunities for citizens to register and update their details at registration stations nationwide.”TimesLIVE
