CALLING ON RESIDENTS TO VOTE
MPLs visit officials to announce initiative
The Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) is said to be one of the areas in the Eastern Cape to have experienced a decline in voter registration or confirmation of addresses compared with the previous election period.
Members of the provincial legislature (MPL) visited municipal officials on Monday to discuss a campaign to encourage locals to register to vote or check whether their correct addresses appeared on the voters' roll. MPL Sicelo Gqobana said the upcoming campaign was organised by the provincial legislature in collaboration with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to encourage especially young people to have a say in the coming elections by voting. “The freedom we are all enjoying now needs to be safe-guarded, nurtured, developed and preserved and in order to do that, all citizens of South Africa who are eligible to vote need to register. “When we checked the previous election voters roll, we found there was a decline in the number of people who registered to vote this year. This speaks to people between the ages of 18 and 19 who make up about 21% and between 20 and 39 (62%) who did not register to vote. Our wish is that everyone is registered to vote before the actual date
Gqobana said the campaign would take place in Enoch Mgijima, Intsika Yethu and Inxuba Yethemba municipalities on February 26 and 27.
“Our main issue with lack of registration is young people. We will hold a campaign in Komani at Ikhala College because we need the youth registered. We need to find out what causes people's disinterest in voting and try to help where we can so that people are encouraged. For now, people have mentioned a number of problems that discouraged them from registering like the standard of education, lack of service delivery and standards, others simply say there is nothing to vote for because nothing will change. We understand the government has not done well for most people, but there is something being done to ensure all issues faced by people are addressed.”
Gqobana encouraged everyone to attend the campaign, especially those who have not registered so that they can be made to understand why it is important to vote.