The Electoral Commission thanks the thousands of South Africans who have responded to the national call to register for the 2021 Municipal Elections.
Registration kicked off this morning at 23 151 registration stations across the country which were manned by 48 899 trained Electoral Commission staff. In the first few hours of the first day of the two-day registration weekend, over 104 00 South African voters visited their voting stations to register, to re-register and to update their registration and address details. This is in addition to the over 230 000 who have used the online registration facility since its launch in July.
The Electoral Commission is impressed by the turnout and urges South Africans to continue to go out in their numbers to register. We are making a special plea to first time voters to take the patriotic step to make their mark in history by voting in the forthcoming elections.
The Commission is happy to report that over 98 percent of our stations opened on time and were able to use material which was delivered on time to start registering voters.
A total of 53 voting stations did not open on time. This was in the main due to service delivery protests by communities seeking to use the registration weekend to draw attention to their issues. In almost all the incidents, the Commission, working with the police and local leaders, was able to resolve the problems and registration continued or is in the process of establishing operations.
We are also happy to report that our new and exciting technology introduced in the registration process, is working well, despite the teething problems experienced in the first two hours of this morning.
The Electoral Commission picked up a technical problem in the new Voter Management Devices (VMDs), which are being used for the first time on a mass scale during this registration weekend.
The Commission took a deliberate decision to operate the VMDs in an offline mode, in order to resolve a glitch in the mapping functionality. It is important to note this has always been part of the plan to operate offline when operational circumstances so demand. Consequently, there has not been any service disruptions at the Registration stations. While we were in an offline mode, the VMDs continued to capture registration details of applicants. While we were in an offline mode a total of 48 089 were captured. Currently the data transferred into the main database from registration stations is 104 000.
The VMD will continue to be the mainstay tool for this registration weekend. It is capable of operating in various modes which will be used for the rest of the registration weekend.
It is important for voters to remember that the online registration portal will remain open until the date of proclamation of the elections which we expect on Monday, 20 September 2021.
Voters who are registered can confirm their registration online on the website, on the IEC APP and by calling the contact centre at 0800 11 8000 (calls are free of charge from a landline and standard mobile network rates apply). Furthermore, an identity number can be sent to 32810 via the Short Message System (SMS).
In order to register, voters need to bring an identity document which may be a Smart Card, green barcoded book or a Temporary Identification Certificate. While proof of address is not a requirement for the purposes of registration, it is essential that a voter indicates an address or a description of a place where they live.
The Commission must record a voter’s address and ensure that each voter is registered within a Ward in which they are ordinarily resident.
For South Africans who may need assistance with identity documents from the Department of Home Affairs, their offices are open this weekend. We welcome the extra mile as this will facilitate the collection of identity documents as well as the acquisition of temporary identification certificates which can be used for registration purposes.
The Commission has also noted the announcement by the Constitutional Court that the full judgment in the case in which we sought postponement of the elections will be tabled soon. The Commission looks forward to reading the judgment as it may have policy implications for the execution of its mandate.
For media queries:
Kate Bapela
Cell: 082 600 6386
For media interviews: Please email requests to spokesperson@elections.org.za
