Progress report on final registration weekend as at 14h00
The Electoral Commission is pleased to report that the vast majority of the country’s 22 617 voting stations reported opening on time at 8am today with a steady stream of voters reported to be visiting to register and update their registration and address details.
Fewer than 40 voting stations – or just 0.17 percent – had not opened earlier today due to a range of factors including logistic challenges such as keys to venues not being available, double bookings of venue, delays in staff arrivals and two vehicle accidents reported. One election official is in hospital after their vehicle was involved in an accident after delivering registration materials near Paulpietersburg in KwaZulu-Natal.
The injuries were reported as not serious.
Of the 40 stations not open at 11h00, more than half were in the Vhembe area in Limpopo where on-going engagement with the community was being undertaken in an attempt to open the stations as soon as possible. Following negotiations with community leaders, the Electoral Commission has removed any reference to either Malamulele or Vuwani naming the new municipality LIM345 – New Municipality.
The new municipality will only be named by the relevant authorities once it has been established after the election.
The Electoral Commission is also grateful to His Majesty, King Mphephu Ramabulana and all other community leaders who have remained engaged in addressing the affected communities and thus ensuring that voter registration activities in the area proceed without undue tensions.
Isolated instances of protest action were also reported in Paarl in the Western Cape, Ntabankulu and Umtata in the Eastern Cape and four voting stations in Kwazulu-Natal in Ladysmith, Umfolozi and Escourt.
The Electoral Commission is engaging with key stakeholders in all these areas – including community leaders, political parties, residents and security forces – in an effort to allow registration to proceed as soon as possible.
The Electoral Commission is hoping as many new voters as possible will join the existing 25.6 million registered voters to boost the voters’ roll above its current level of about 75 percent of the eligible voting population.
To significantly increase the current voters’ roll will require a large number of young first-time voters to register this weekend - statistics show that approximately 80 percent of the 8 million eligible voters who are not currently registered are younger than 30.
To help boost registration by first-time voters, Facebook at 12pm today launched its first-ever voter registration campaign in Africa in partnership with the Electoral Commission which saw the deployment of a special voter registration message to all Facebook users aged over 18 years old and a button which voters can share with friends to show they have registered.
This is the first time the initiative has been implemented in Africa following previous initiatives in the United States, UK, European parliamentary elections and India.
In addition, the Electoral Commission sent out over 2.5 million SMS messages to eligible voters aged 18 to 25 yesterday reminding them of the final registration weekend.
The Electoral Commission is also making a special plea to all existing registered voters to use this weekend to visit their voting station to update and confirm their address details.
The Constitutional Court found in November last year that a voter’s address or sufficient particularities of their place of residence were essential to ensure that the voter is registered in the correct voting district.
The Electoral Commission is currently seeking clarity from the Constitutional Court – in a matter set down for hearing on 9 May – as to what the status of voters is when no addresses are available.
While the Electoral Commission is determined not to deny any voter the right to vote simply because an address is not available on the voters’ roll, the Commission has at the same time embarked on a variety of initiatives to urge voters update their address details this weekend.
This week the Electoral Commission issued over 5 million SMSes to registered voters for whom no address details are currently available. This is being complemented by radio adverts and messages on social media to encourage existing voters to visit their voting stations to check and update their details.
Existing voters can check whether additional address information is required for them by SMSing their ID number to 32810. They will receive an SMS back with the name of the voting station where they are currently registered. Voters for whom incomplete address details are currently captured will receive a second SMS urging them to visit their voting station to update their details. By lunchtime today the SMS line had received over 60 000 hits.
Voters can also check their status by dialing *120*432# or on www.elections.org.za or call the Contact Centre on 0800 11 8000 between 7am and 9pm.
To help speed up the registration process, an electronic PDF format of the REC 1 form is available on www.elections.org.za which voters can complete online, print a copy and bring it with them to their voting station. The form had been completed by over 6 000 voters by 13h00 today.
To find their correct voting station, eligible voters can:
- Call the Contact Centre on 0800 11 8000 between 7am and 9pm
- Dial *120*432#
- Use the Voting Station Finder App on www.elections.org.za
All those visiting a voting station should have with them a valid South African identity document –either a green bar-coded ID book, a smartcard ID or a valid Temporary Identification Certificate.
They must also have their address details for the registration form – but ARE NOT required to provide proof of address. Address details provided by voters are accepted in good faith but voters are reminded that it is a criminal offence to deliberately register in the incorrect voting district or to knowingly provide false information on the registration form.
Voters who may be experiencing any challenge with issues connected to their identity documents are reminded that the Department of Home Affairs is once again opening its offices between 8am and 5pm over the weekend to allow citizens to collect their IDs or to obtain temporary ID certificates in order to register. The Electoral Commission is grateful to the Department of Home Affairs which for these arrangements.
For media queries:
Kate Bapela
Cell: 082 600 6386
For media interviews, please email requests to:
E-mail: spokesperson@elections.org.za
