Durban - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal has managed to put out a few fires that emerged during the first voter registration weekend ahead of the local government elections.
At one voting station in Phoenix, north of Durban, a group irate people complained that they were being chased away. However, this was a case of people not understanding the new demarcation changes that were made known late in 2010.
IEC Electoral Manager Ntomb'futhi Masinga confirmed this has been an issue for the organisation.
"The demarcation board only finalised these details late last year, and although the information was put out there, people didn't get the message and this led to some problems," said Masinga.
She added that a few community halls that were hired for the registration process had to be used for funerals on Sunday morning and temporary measures had to be put into place to accommodate this.
Apart from these factors, on Sunday over 55 000 registrations were reported and 109 000 people had their details checked by 2pm.
Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize visited the northern parts of the province on Saturday to check on the voter registration process.
Mkhize's spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya said the premier visited the most impoverished areas and listened to the issues raised by the communities.
"His message to the local communities was very clear, they have to register to vote and elect leaders who will help them with the challenges that they are faced with. The issues that were brought up included lack of water services, sanitation, electricity and economic development," said Sibiya.
Some people also told Mkhize they were frustrated that people they voted for often ended up living in different areas and neglecting their communities. People were also unhappy that their local leaders were more interested in occupying more prominent positions in office, said Sibiya.
According to Sibiya, these issues would be looked into and raised in the premier's state of the province address next week.
In the South Coast, MEC for Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation Weziwe Thusi made visits to different voting stations in Port Shepstone and surrounding areas.
She told BuaNews in a telephonic interview that she visited a few houses and assisted people with information about the registration process.
"We were telling them about the importance of voting, especially the women. We also talked about the SMS option to check if their registration details were still relevant," said Thusi.
MEC for Health Sibongiseni Dhlomo visited a few districts in the Newcastle area and was encouraged by the number of elderly people who made their way to register this weekend.
"We went to door to door, chatting to people about the importance of voting. But as we drove through different parts, we saw queues with elderly people and I was very encouraged by this," said Dhlomo.
He added that he spoke to several youths who had already registered early on Saturday morning.
The spirited MEC said his trip to Newcastle during this weekend was very positive.
