The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said more than 300 000 voters registered within the first few hours of the opening of voter registration centres on Saturday. This was the second registration weekend for the 2024 national and provincial elections. In the initial hours of this two-day registration, an impressive 304 221 voters had visited voting stations. Of these, 55 019 were persons who were registering for the first time.
“This early turnout not only sets a positive tone for the registration period but also serves as a testament that citizens remain engaged with affairs of their country,” said IEC Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Masego Sheburi, during a media conference in Centurion.
He said 99% of the 23 303 registration stations nationwide were operational as early as 08:00, with 68 718 electoral officers manning the stations.
Sheburi encouraged those unable to visit the registration stations to use the commission online portal.
“Today alone, the online voter registration portal recorded over 20 325 (7 234 new) voter registration transactions.
We urge voters who may have had a less than pleasant experience using the online platform, to try again.
The online portal remains available 24 hours a day until the day the elections are proclaimed,” explained Sheburi.
The IEC recently announced that the national voters’ roll has, for the first time, surpassed the 27 million mark, when compared to the 2019 elections roll that stood at 26.7 million.
He said temporary voting stations were erected in the Overberg area in the Western Cape, following fires in the area, to allow voters to register.
Sheburi also highlighted that there have been a few service delivery protests in some areas, which impeded the opening of the voting stations.
The stations were eventually opened following the intervention of the law enforcement authorities.
Regarding comments made by President Cyril Ramaphosa that there might be a “fightback” against the country’s domestic politics and electoral outcomes to pursue the regime change agenda, following the International Court of Justice ruling against Israel, Sheburi said it would be foolhardy to believe there would not be any foreign interference during this year’s provincial and national elections.
“However, the saving grace is that our voting processes are manual.
We vote at the voting station, we count at the voting station, we announce the results at the voting station, all this in the presence of party agents and observers where they are present.
We continue to automate our results onto a results system, but whatever results we announce, it’s already known. are already known,” said Sheburi.
He added that the IEC is working internally to fortify its systems to minimise and mitigate the risk of illicit interference in the results announcement.
