Voter registration complete despite disruptions

VOTING registration was well under way despite unrest experienced in certain areas across the country, says the Independent Electoral Commision (IEC).

On Saturday voting stations in Dunoon and Gugulethu had to be closed after operations were disrupted by service delivery protests.

The Western Cape’s provincial electoral head Courtney Sampson said their officials had to temporarily to close operations after the unrest began.

“These residents were protesting over service delivery and land, tearing down posters and signs at the venue. We engaged the community with political party leaders, community leaders, officials and were able to resolve the matter peacefully and our staff returned to complete voter registration,” said Sampson.

He said no IEC officials had been injured during the protests and voter registration continued until 5pm on Sunday.

The IEC registration drive and address update campaign was part of early preparations for the national and provincial elections scheduled for 2019.

There were 1 586 locations across the Western Cape where registration commenced, said Sampson, except Robben Island and a section of Makaza informal settlement where there were only five residents, as the other residents had moved from the area.

The Department of Home Affairs issued a statement yesterday, apologising to the public after their services were offline yesterday morning.

“Our technicians worked hard to resolve the challenge. We wish to apologise sincerely for the inconvenience this has caused.”

The IEC reported that despite some continued isolated disruptions in a handful of areas over the weekend, most had been resolved and almost all voting stations were operational yesterday.

Registered voters wishing to check or revise their address can go online at www.elections. org.za or call the IEC Contact Centre 0800 11 8000.