Pretoria - Except for minor hiccups in some of the registration centres during the first day of voter registration on Saturday, everything went well on the second day - with more people coming on Sunday.
After experiencing a shortage of voter registration materials, which led to late opening of the registration centre in George Brink sports ground in Sunnyside, the registration staff managed to assist 70 people on Saturday and by 1pm, they had already helped 54 people on Sunday.
Presiding officer Matshediso Shokane said after some confusion on Saturday, which prevented people from coming in, they were expecting an increase in the number of people on Sunday.
"The entrance gate was locked when we came yesterday at 7am, and we had to move to another side of the sports ground. Since we didn't have any flag to direct people to where we were, most of them went back home without being attended to. But it's promising today, as we are busy calling people when we see them passing through the street," said Shokane.
The Muckleneuk registration centre saw more new registrations on Saturday, compared to those who came to check if their names appeared on the voters' roll.
"We had 52 new registrations and 14 elders who came to check their names on Saturday. [At 13.30pm], we had 18 people who came to check their names, and 29 new registrations. We are expecting more people towards closing [at 5pm] because most people came in the morning, enquiring what time we'll be closing as they were on their way to church and will only be able to come after church," said presiding officer Sussanah Tshabalala.
The registration station in Mooikloof was busier than others, as 113 people were assisted on Saturday, and by 2.15pm on Sunday, 101 people had already been attended to.
Presiding officer Reshnee Makenjee said everything went well, with the registration material being delivered on time before the opening on Saturday, and more people were expected to come in on Sunday.
"We are a little busy today. Out of the 113 people who came on Saturday, 28 were new registrations and out of the 101 we have seen today, 31 of them are new registrations. More people are coming in today," Makenjee said.
Sunday was the second day of the IEC's voter registration drive that began on Saturday. The registration weekend is being held to give new voters a chance to register for this year's municipal elections.
