The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has given its online portal the thumbs up following a voter registration weekend which was a resounding success.
The commission addressed the media on Monday and said while people still presented themselves physically at voting stations, the online portal continues to record increased voter activity as well.
The IEC said just under 200 000 people used the online portal to register and verify their particulars this weekend, with Gauteng reporting the most online registrations. The portal was launched in 2021 and was piloted during the local government elections. “Over the registration weekend 196 000 transactions were recorded on the online facility. The provinces with the highest registrations are Gauteng, Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal,” said Chief Electoral Officer Si Mamabolo.
Mamabolo assured voters who experienced problems on the portal that their cases are being attended to and their registration will be concluded. He said most of the hiccups were a result of incorrect ID photos being uploaded onto the system attracting an error message.
“The commission is seized with resolving some online registrations that gave a pending message. The pending message is received by voters in instances where the ID that they have uploaded cannot be read by the system or when an image other than the ID has been uploaded. We urge voters to take extra care and follow system prompts when uploading images of their Identity Documents. The online registration portal remains available and citizens are urged to continue to use this system to register and update their details. We urge those whose applications were not concluded on the system to return to the system and finalise those. Effort is also being made on our side so as to facilitate the conclusion of those incomplete registration transactions,” he said.
A total of 2.9 million South African’s registered over the weekend with a majority presenting themselves physically at voting stations across the country.