12 February 2014
South Africa registered another 1.2-million voters on the final voter registration weekend ahead of the country’s general elections on 7 May, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Pansy Tlakula said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, Tlakula said new registrations over the past weekend -1 259 560 in total – had increased the overall registration level to 80.5 percent of eligible voters, with a record 25.3-million South Africans now on the voters’ roll.
Taking into account the 1.1-million first-time voters who registered in November, some 2.3-million new voters are to be added onto the voters’ roll – about 17% higher than 2-million target set by the IEC, she said.
“In total, just short of 3-million people visited our 22 263 voting stations this weekend. That is 16 percent higher than the 2.5-million who visited voting stations in November.”
She said it was “encouraging” to see that 79.89 percent (or 1 006 260 people) of all new registrations were voters under the age of 30. This included:
- 691 002 voters aged 20-29;
- 255 398 voters aged 18 and 19; and
- 59 860 voters aged 16 and 17.
A further 1.48-million registered voters also used the opportunity to change their voting station, according to Tlakula, while 183 377 people re-registered at the same voting station.
New provincial registration totals
In terms of new registrations, the following are the provincial totals:
- Eastern Cape – 130 072 new voters (10.33 percent)
- Free State – 70 161 new voters (5.57 percent)
- Gauteng – 339 728 new voters (26.97 percent)
- KwaZulu-Natal – 298 652 new voters (23.71 percent)
- Limpopo – 86 835 new voters (6.89 percent)
- Mpumalanga – 97 732 new voters (7.76 percent)
- North West – 74 389 new voters (5.91 percent)
- Northern Cape – 25 332 new voters (2.01 percent)
- Western Cape – 136 659 new voters (10.85 percent)
Women comprised 51.50 percent of new registrations, while men comprised 48.50 percent, according to the IEC.
Overall registration levels for estimated eligible voters
The overall registration level against estimated eligible population for the provinces are as follows:
- Eastern Cape – 85.3 percent
- Free State – 85.8 percent
- Gauteng – 77 percent
- KwaZulu-Natal – 83.6 percent
- Limpopo – 81 percent
- Mpumalanga – 77.3 percent
- North West – 78.5 percent
- Northern Cape – 84.3 percent
- Western Cape – 77.8 percent
Registration is also under way for overseas voters at South African diplomatic missions abroad.
“As of yesterday we had received 3 521 applications for registration. According to figures provided by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, we anticipate approximately 700 more applications being couriered to us for capturing,” Tlakula said.
Registration conducted at correctional facilities throughout the country last week resulted in 9 949 registration applications by inmates.
Registration remains open for eligible voters until 5pm on the day of the official proclamation of the election date, which is expected to be later this month.
Eligible voters can still register at their local IEC office until that day, after which the voters’ roll closes. Contact details for IEC offices are available on www.elections.org.za or call 0800 11 8000. Voters who registered this weekend can check their new registration details from Monday, 17 February, by SMSing their ID number to 32810.
Source: SAnews.gov.za
