Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo says the Electoral Commission is ready to welcome eligible South Africans at the 23 303 registration stations across the country this weekend - to register or check their details ahead of the national elections.
This weekend will be the second Voter Registration Weekend after the weekend of 18 - 19 November 2023.
“The Electoral Commission will hold the second voter registration weekend on 3 and 4 February 2024 in preparation for the general elections of the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures,” Mamabolo said, addressing the media in Pretoria earlier today.
“We further urge eligible voters to visit the registration stations, to inspect, or update their registration details or to do so online.”
He urged all South Africans to make use of the coming weekend to register for the elections.
Registration weekends remain the most accessible modality of registration as affirmed by the yield from the first registration weekend.
Registration stations will be open from 08h00 and close on 17h00 on both days. Over 69 718 staff members have been recruited and trained for the voter registration weekend.
“The recruitment criteria for electoral staff was conceived in consultation with the national political liaison committee.
“The names of trained staff have also been shared with the municipal political liaison committees to facilitate objections against those staff members that are deemed unsuitable. Out of the appointed staff, 53 028 are female and 16 690 are male.
“In addition, 35 640 registration staff are under the age of 35, whilst 26 475 are between the ages 36 and 50. The balance of 7 603 are people who are 51 years old and above. Crucially, 50 213 of the total staff complement are unemployed persons,” Mamabolo said.
The commission’s collective goal, he said, is to ensure that every one of the eligible voters in South Africa is registered to vote in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.
“Ahead of the second voter registration weekend, we remind voters of the general rule in elections. That is, a person votes at a voting station where they are registered.
“The only exception to the general rule is that a voter may vote outside of the voting district of registration only if they have first notified the commission by the date which will be regulated by the Election Timetable.
“The need for this prior notification is new and comes about as a result of the changes to the law. Details of the modalities of this notification will be outlined after the registration process,” he said.
Mamabolo explained that the success of the first Registration Weekend was, in the main, because of the efficiencies brought by the Voter Management Devices (VMD’s).
“The VMD is the mainstay technology for the delivery of the registration process. Once again, three business applications will be running on the VMDs during this weekend,” he said.
The international segment of the voters’ roll for out of country registrations stood at approximately 18 000 South Africans ahead of the registration weekend out of the country.
“Following the registration weekend for out of country citizens, this segment of the roll now stands at 29 318 voters. Out of country registrations can still continue via the online registration process that the Commission has developed and which is accessible through the Commission’s website,” Mamabolo said.
He said as of today, voters can also check their registration status and voting station details via the IEC's Whatsapp Chatbot on 0600 88 0000. – SAnews.gov.za
