Pretoria - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is hoping to register more young people during this weekend's voter registration ahead of the 2011 local government elections.
Briefing the media about their readiness for voter registration, IEC chairperson, Dr Brigalia Bam, said preparations were going well.
"We urge young people to turn up in their numbers to register so that they can vote. The youth are the leaders of tomorrow and have a long-term stake in the progress of our country. When they fail to register to vote, they give up power to pick who governs them. Far too many of our young generation fail to vote in elections," she said.
The IEC will open its 20 867 voting stations countrywide on Saturday and Sunday between 8am until 5pm for voter registration.
Bam said the upcoming local government elections will be held anytime between 2 March and 30 May. The actual date will be announced by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Sicelo Shiceka.
Registration weekend is an opportunity for first-time potential voters to register and for registered voters to confirm that they are registered in voting stations where they live.
In municipal elections, voters can only vote where they are registered and those who have moved house have to re-register in the voting stations where they now reside.
There are currently 22 667 881 registered voters on the voters' roll. Young people between the ages of 18 and 19 make up an estimated 2.1 million of the population, however, Bam said only 238 500 (11 percent) of them were registered.
Most of them were too young to vote in the 2009 elections and now is their opportunity to become part of the democratic process by registering to vote.
Young people in the 20 to 29 age group are estimated at 9.5 million, yet only 53.7percent of this figure is registered to vote.
As certain parts of the country had been declared disaster areas because of the recent flash floods, Bam said should the situation arise that heavy rains and floods make some voting stations inaccessible, they will give people in those areas another opportunity to register.
The Electoral Commission's Chief Electoral Officer, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, said they have set a target to get 1.5 million new voters during their voter registration drive.
Go to http://www.buanews.gov.za/elections_index.html for more info and election stories.
