The Electoral Commission (IEC) said more than 400 000 had visited voting stations to either register as new voters or re-register by Sunday morning, the second day of the Commission’s registration drive.
IEC chairperson, Brigalia Bam said the more than 400 000 excluded the thousands others who also visited the voting stations to check their details.
“We thank all South Africans who have heeded our call to register, re-register and check their details yesterday and today. We call on all South Africans to visit our voting stations before they close at 5pm today.
“Normally the Saturday, the first day of the registration drive, is the quieter of the two days. Today we are hoping an even better turn-out,” she said.
“We are also excited to say in addition to the people who visited the voting stations to register, re-register or check their voting details; more than 97 000 people visited the IEC website since Saturday morning until 11am today to check their details.
Also, we received 129 000 SMSes from people wishing to reconfirm their registration details and more than 13 000 used our call centre facility to enquire about their details.
However the IEC’s voter registration drive had been hampered by heavy rains in three provinces, the Free State, Northern Cape and the northern parts of the Western Cape.
“Increased flooding in the Northern Cape has led to the closure of a further eight voting stations in addition to the five which were closed yesterday. The eight stations were in Poffadder, Sol Plaatjie, Sutherland and three in the Postmansburg area.
“In the Free State, there were 11 stations which did not open, three in the Zastron area, one at Koffiefontein, four at Trompsburg and three in the Dewetsdorp area. It is hoped that some of these may open during the course of the day.
“In the Western Cape, apart from the two which closed yesterday in Beaufort West, another one was closed today in the Prince Albert are, taking the total to three,” said Dr Bam.
Dr Bam said there were no weather challenges in Gauteng, North West or Mpumalanga. Also, the weather has improved in Limpopo and all stations are now open.
Dr Bam said final registration figures would be released on Wednesday.
Registered voters are advised to SMS their ID number to 32810, contact the IEC call centre on 0800 11 8000 or visit the IEC website to check on their registration details.
For media enquiries:
Kate Bapela
Cell: 082 600 6386
For media interviews: Please e-mail request to spokesperson@elections.org.za
