By Thapelo Molefe
Young people have emerged as the biggest group of new voter registration applicants as more than 330,000 voter registration transactions were processed by midday on the first day of the Electoral Commission’s voter registration weekend.
Briefing the media on Saturday, IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi said early indications showed that young people made up the majority of those registering ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
“Indeed, the preponderance of new applicants today are young persons,” Sheburi said.
The IEC said over 300,000 registration transactions were processed at voting stations across the country, while another 30,000 applications were submitted through the online registration platform.
Sheburi said the registration weekend had started on an “overwhelmingly positive note”, with nearly all of the country’s 23,706 voting stations opening and operating as planned by 8am.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of registration applications, followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Despite the availability of online registration, the IEC said most applicants chose to register at voting stations.
Sheburi said the commission expected online registrations to increase later in the day and overnight because the platform remains available 24 hours a day.
The commission also reported a small number of technical complaints involving delays in receiving one-time pins needed to complete online registrations. However, Sheburi said the registration system remained stable.
The IEC revealed that fewer than 16 voting stations across the country remained closed because of community protests. Sheburi said the commission was working with community leaders and the South African Police Service to resolve the disruptions.
Addressing concerns about voting station relocations, including a dispute at the University of Limpopo, Sheburi said the issue had been resolved and the voting station had been reinstated at the university.
He explained that voting stations are only moved when municipal ward boundaries change or when new settlements and population shifts require additional voting facilities.
Sheburi also appealed to South Africans who feel disillusioned with politics to still register.
“You may not have a political home,” he said.
“All we can ask is that register so that during the campaigns, if there’s a party or a candidate that speaks to your issues, you’ve already taken the first step of being on the voters’ roll.”
The IEC will release the final registration figures on Tuesday and will then decide whether a second voter registration weekend will be necessary.
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