DURBAN, March (ANA) - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Monday, urged eligible voters across the county to visit voting stations this weekend in order to update the voters’ roll in preparation for the 2019 general elections.
An expected 22,612 voting stations around the country will be open on 10 and 11 March between 8 am and 5 pm to register both first time voters and those that 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 2018, to update the voters’ roll with all available addresses.
KwaZulu-Natal IEC provincial electoral manager, Mawethu Mosery, told journalist at a press conference held at the provincial IEC headquarters in Westville, Durban, on Monday afternoon, that acceptable types of addresses according to the ruling included a street address, site/house address, residential complex address or a place name 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 that since 2016, the IEC has used various methods in order 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 in the province. Of this figure, 555,979 have no addresses whilst 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 Africa 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 which will allow the electoral commission to place them in the correct voting district. Proof of residence is not required,” he said.
Mosery said the 4,793 voting stations in KwaZulu-Natal will be open this weekend as would the Department of Home Affairs offices.
If members of the public want to ascertain if and where they are registered they are requested to call 0800,11,8000 on Monday to Friday, between 8am-5pm.
Alternatively, the public can SMS their ID number to 32810 to receive a replying SMS containing the address of their voting station (charged at R1) or they can visit www.elections.org.za/MyIEC. The website can also be used to update and review voter details.
- African News Agency (ANA),
