A total of 568 374 new voters are now registered to vote in South Africa’s provincial and national elections scheduled to take place in 2024. The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs received an update recently on the rollout of the first voter registration weekend held on 18 and 19 November 2023.
The committee applauded the successes achieved over the weekend, particularly the efficiency of the voter management devices, the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) responses to various challenges and the good turnout. Nonetheless, the committee highlighted the opportunity presented to fix various problems, especially with the temporary infrastructure, such as tents, which were used at some voting stations.
According to the IEC, total registration activity over the two days was 2 904 037. The 568 374 newly registered voters account for 19.57% of the total registration activity. Meanwhile, 1.4 million voters re-registered in the same voting district, while 929 564 million re-registered at a different voting district.
The committee also welcomed the enthusiasm of young people in registering to vote and participating in the democratic process. Young people aged 16–29 account for 445 089 or 78.31% of the newly registered voters. The committee welcomed this as evidence that the efforts to get this cohort to register are bearing fruit and has encouraged the IEC to continue this focus in the coming months.
Since its inception, the committee had called for an electronic registration system to be developed that will enable younger voters to register from the comfort of their homes. The committee is thus pleased that this has been implemented and has had such positive results.
The IEC said that the online registration portal has been a success since its inception in July 2021. Over the registration weekend, the portal recorded 196 511 transactions. Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are the provinces with the highest online registrations.
However, the IEC must resolve the issue around some online registrations that gave a “pending” message when the ID image uploaded by the user cannot be read or recognised by the system, or where an image other than an ID has been uploaded. The IEC urges voters to take extra care and follow system prompts when uploading their ID images. The committee continues to encourage eligible voters to use this platform to register.
The registration numbers over the weekend show that the voters’ roll increased to 26.8 million voters, from 26.3 million before the weekend. The committee is convinced that a mark of a strong democracy is the level of participation of eligible voters and it reiterates its call for voters to continue using the online platform to register.
The committee also received a detailed briefing on the IEC’s recruitment processes for the voter registration weekend and welcomed the transparency the IEC demonstrates in its work. Of the electoral staff employed, 52% were under the age of 35, with many of them unemployed.
The committee also called on those who missed this opportunity to register to do so during the next voter registration period, which will be held once the date for elections is announced.
Malatswa Molepo
22 November 2023
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