Voter registration abroad set to kick off
South Africans living abroad will be permitted to register to vote in the forthcoming national elections at the 120 high commissions, embassies and consulates at the weekend starting on Friday.
For the first time, South Africans abroad may also register using the online self-registration portal by visiting and capturing their details and uploading a scanned image of their identity document.
This will be followed by a second and final voter registration weekend scheduled for February 3-4 when new voters will be permitted to register and existing voters to inspect and update their registration details.
After the first registration weekend held on November 1819, the voters’ roll consisted of 26.8-million voters with 568,374 of those registering for the first time during that period.
The date for this year’s national and provincial elections is yet to be announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Meanwhile, opposition parties represented in the MultiParty Charter will on Wednesday unveil their joint policy proposal on growing the economy and creating jobs. Though the 10 parties represented in the charter will be separately contesting the election, the joint policy is expected to form part of each of the party’s respective manifestos.
The charter, which aims to oust the ANC as the governing party, comprises the DA, FF Plus, ActionSA, ACDP, Independent SA National Civic Organisation, United Independent Movement, the Spectrum National Party, the Ekhethu People’s Party and the United Christian Democratic Party.
The grouping has agreed in a pact not to work with the ANC, EFF or any “rival formations” and “will not vote for any office bearers of the ANC and EFF — nominated either directly or indirectly — at any inaugural meetings of the National Assembly, National Council of Provinces and provincial legislatures”.
Several surveys, including one by the ANC itself, indicate that the governing party’s electoral support could fall below 50% in 2024, an outcome that would open the door for a coalition government nationally or a change of power as opposition parties are gearing up for closer co-operation should the ANC fail to get a majority.
The UK’s Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, will be on a two-day working visit to SA, beginning on Monday.
Prince Edward will make a courtesy call at the Oliver
Tambo official residence in Pretoria where he and his delegation will hold discussions with deputy president Paul Mashatile on key areas of importance in the bilateral relationship between both countries.
In a statement on Friday, the presidency said Prince Edward’s visit is “indicative of the strong bilateral relationship that the UK and SA share”.
The duke’s activities in the country include meeting stakeholders from WWF SA, Endangered Wildlife Trust, GreenMatterZA, Traffic, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, BirdLife and Conservation SA.
“In addition, the Duke of Edinburgh will meet awardees of the President’s Awards, the international arm of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, of which President Ramaphosa is a patron,” the statement reads.