Millions of South African ready to make a mark
Sekhukhune
Over 1.7 million South African have registered to vote for the upcoming Local Government Election (LGE) to be held on November 1st.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has gazetted the date.
The gazette was done as per Constitution, section 159 read with the Municipal Structures Act, which prescribes that at the end of a five-year term of local government, elections must be held within a period of 90 days.
The citizens visited voting stations throughout the country over the weekend to register to vote in the upcoming elections.
This registration process included new registrations as well as voters correcting their registration details.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) disclosed that persons registering as voters for the first time were 433 198.
While the voters who were re-registering in same voting stations or changed voting districts account for account were 1 277 811 applications.
The commission introduced new innovations devices that are said to be increased in speed at which voter registration applications are processed.
In July the commission introduced online registration portal and it has processed 499 488 applications.
This digital channel provides voters with convenience of use in terms of time of application as well as place of application.
The IEC said the online registration portal would become anchor mechanism of registration in the future.
“A solid basis was laid for its future use,” said IEC chairperson, Say Mamabolo.
Young people aged between 16-29 account for 402 401 of the new registrations therefore, this registration effort has elicited a good response from young people.
The country is heading to the sixth municipal election held in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Dlamini Zuma said gazetting of the election date means that the IEC will seal the voters’ roll.
“We urge all South Africans who will be embarking on campaigning and canvassing for votes to do so responsibly while respecting Covid-19 regulations and protocols,” said the minister.
She said once the election results are confirmed, councils for all 48 districts, 8 metropolitan and 207 local municipalities in each of the country’s nine provinces will be elected.
The Commission thanks South Africans who have come out in numbers to register and urges those that have not done so to use the last few hours of the registration weekend to register or visit the online registration portal.
