IEC Answers Your Questions – It’s Not Too Late to Register to Vote

If you weren’t one of the millions of South Africans who managed to register to vote over the two registration weekends, it’s not too late! But hurry, before the 2016 Municipal Election is proclaimed.

Speaking to SAPeople, the Electoral Commission (IEC) has also answered some of the questions voters had after the sms which was sent out last week informing them that the IEC did not have their address, even though some had been on the electoral roll for decades and had never moved.

SAP: Please confirm voters can still register until proclamation.

IEC: Voters can still register and update their registration and address details during office hours at their local IEC offices countrywide until the Municipal Elections are proclaimed, at which point the voters’ roll will be closed.

A list of the address of these offices is available on the Electoral Commission website or from the Contact Centre (0800 11 8000).

It is not necessary to make an appointment.

Some people would like to know why they received the SMS and their details appeared to have been lost when they registered last month (during the first voters’ registration weekend)?

There was no widespread loss of details from the previous registration weekend. The address details from the previous registration are in the final stages of capturing. This will be placed on the voters roll upon completion.

Many people would like to know why they were not asked for any proof of address when they went to register last weekend. 

A voter does not need proof of residence for purposes of registration. What is required is an address or sufficient particulars in order to register a voter in the correct voting district of ordinary residence.

Some people would like to know how the IEC was able to source their phone numbers and yet not their addresses? And they would like to know if the sourcing of phone numbers contravened any privacy laws?

The process of sourcing contact details observed the laws of the Republic.

Please confirm the proclamation is to be made by Minister Des van Rooyen.

Yes, the proclamation of the 3 August Municipal Elections will be made by the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).

Approximately when will the proclamation be made?

Proclamation is expected sometime in May.

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So there you have it. South Africans who aren’t yet registered, or aren’t sure if the IEC has their address, have at least until the end of April to hurry and get it done! Visit the IEC’s Contact Page and scroll down to find the IEC office in your area.

Over the two registration weekends a total of 1,384,254 new voters were added to the voters’ roll bringing the total number of voters to 26,296,601 million or approximately 77 percent of the eligible voting population.

A total of more than 6.6 million voters visited their voting station over the two registration weekends – including 3,581,540 during the past weekend. This is almost two and a half times more activity than in the two registration weekends for the 2011 Municipal Elections.

Of those who visited voting stations over the two weekends this year:
• 1,384,254 were new registrations (20.73%)
• 2,253,645 re-registered in a different voting district (33.74%)
• 3,040,835 re-registered in the same voting district (45.53%

This final group was responding to calls by the Electoral Commission to voters for whom no address details were on record to visit their voting station to update their registration and address details. The Electoral Commission says is very grateful for this response.

The youth responded positively to the call to register – with nearly 80 percent of first-time registering voters aged under 30 years old.

Once again KwaZulu-Natal overwhelmingly topped the registration activity during the weekend, logging over 1.1 million visitors to its voting stations – representing 30 percent of the total registration weekend activity for the entire country.  The next closest was Gauteng with 696,252 visitors followed by the Eastern Cape with 512,655 visitors.