This weekend’s registration activity comes on the back of two major achievements by the IEC – the national voters roll has for the first time exceeded the 27-million mark for voter registrations and, secondly, the online registration platform continues to yield a return on investment.
THE ELECTORAL Commission of South Africa (IEC) has confirmed registering more than one million new voters during the voter registration weekend.
IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya thanked those South Africans who visited voting stations across the country to register and check their registration details ahead of the 2024 elections.
Moepya said at the close of registration on day one, the commission recorded more than half a million registrations at 23,303 voting stations.
According to the SABC, there are more than 14 million citizens of voting age in South Africa, mostly young people, who are still not registered for the upcoming national general elections.
The commission indicated that at about 1pm on Sunday, a total of 564,715 registration transactions had been recorded at voting stations across the country.
This came after the IEC recorded 67,200 online registrations on Saturday, while on Sunday there were 34,293 online registrations.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded 131,341 registrations; Gauteng 116,284; Eastern Cape 93,839; Limpopo 57,442; Mpumalanga 41,793; Western Cape Cape 38,425; North West 36,834; Free State 33,958; Northern Cape 13,696; and out of country recorded 1,013.
During a media briefing on the progress made on day one of the voter registration weekend, the deputy chief electoral officer, Masego Shiburi, said they were happy with the turnout.
“Today alone, the online voter registration portal recorded over 20,525 transactions. Of those, 7,234 were new registrations. The platform remains available 24 hours a day until the day on which the date of the election is proclaimed by the president.
“This weekend’s important registration activity comes on the back of two major achievements by the Electoral Commission and these are that the national voters roll has for the first time exceeded the 27-million mark for voter registrations. Secondly, the online registration platform continues to yield a return on investments,” said Shiburi.
The commission indicated that the online platform and local municipal offices will remain open for registration and verification of details until the date of the election is proclaimed by the president.
Last week, IEC chief electorate officer Sy Mamabolo lauded the commission’s achievement of a milestone of 27-million people on the voters roll ahead of the second registration weekend.
