Voters urged to visit voting stations to register
THE ELECTORAL Commission of SA (IEC) has urged eligible voters across the county to visit voting stations this weekend to update the voters roll in preparation for the 2019 general elections.
An expected 22 612 voting stations countrywide will be open this Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 5pm to register both first-time voters and those who want to re-register for reasons such as having moved to a new ward, town or province.
The IEC is hopeful that this weekend will help the organisation obtain addresses of all registered voters as demanded by a Constitutional Court ruling in 2016, which gave the electoral commission until June this year to update the voters roll with all available addresses.
KwaZulu-Natal IEC provincial electoral manager Mawethu Mosery told journalists at a press conference yesterday acceptable types of addresses, according to the ruling, included street addresses, site/house addresses, residential complex addresses or place names for urban dwellers.
For rural addresses, voters need to provide village names, the tribal authority and town as well as a descriptive place name.
Mosery said since 2016, the IEC had used various methods to comply with the judgment, “including the 2016 local government elections, by-elections, ongoing office, online and toll-free lines”, as well as assistance from municipalities.
“Our current figures on the voters roll show that in KwaZulu-Natal there are 5 317 661 registered voters. Of these, 555 979 have no addresses while 832 616 have incomplete addresses,” said Mosery.
“This brings the total number of voters with no addresses in KwaZulu-Natal to 1 388 595. The three municipalities with the highest number of voters with no addresses are eThekwini Metro Municipality with 291 005, followed by uMgungundlovu District Municipality with 40 950 and Zululand District Municipality with 34 566.”
He said the Constitutional Court had yet to inform them if methods being used by the IEC had been effective to obtain the addresses of all eligible voters.
“South African citizens aged 16 and older and in possession of a bar coded ID book, smart card ID or a temporary ID certificate can register as voters.
“They will be assisted to complete a registration form providing their home address at which they ordinarily reside,” he said. – African News Agency (ANA)