The IEC says it is ready for the voter registration weekend.

• The IEC has called on prospective voters to check whether they are registered.  
• The IEC will have another registration round this coming weekend.  
• In the coming national and provincial elections, voters must cast their ballot at the stations where they are registered.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has stressed the importance of each voter checking where they are registered.

“This is more acute in the light of the general rule that a voter must vote at the voting station at which that voter is registered,” the IEC’s chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The IEC hosted the briefing before the second voter registration round – 3 and 4 February – in the run-up to this year’s general elections.  

“Our collective goal, as a nation, is to ensure that every one of the eligible voters in South Africa is registered to vote in the 2024 national and provincial elections. 

“It is, therefore, apposite that 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,” said Mamabolo.  

“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.” 

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Mamabolo said the IEC was ready for the registration weekend.  

“Accordingly, the electoral commission announces its readiness to welcome eligible South Africans at 23 303 registration stations across the country to register or check their details ahead of the elections.

“Registration stations will operate from 08:00 and 17:00 on both days.” 

He added the IEC’s first registration weekend, in November, was a success, saying, “it transacted with more than 2.9 million South Africans who registered or updated their details on the voters’ roll”.  

“Registration weekends remain the most accessible modality of registration as affirmed by the yield from the first registration weekend,” Mamabolo said.  

He added the IEC was happy the national voters’ roll had, for the first time, surpassed the 27 million mark.  

In the 2019 national and provincial elections, the certified voters’ roll stood at 26.7 million.  

“We are encouraged that we have reached this milestone ahead of the second general registration event scheduled for this weekend.” 

Mamabolo said the IEC was also happy the online registration platform “has proved to be the mainstay of registrations in between general voter registration weekends”.  

“We recorded just under 200 000 new registrations since the registration weekend in November 2023. Overall registration activity in that period was 498 000.”  

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He ascribed the success of the first voter registration weekend to the IEC’s use of voter management devices (VMDs). 

“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.” 

There are 29 318 voters registered outside the country, including around 18 000 registrations the past week.

Out-of-country registrations can continue via the online registration process the IEC has developed, which is accessible through its website. 

Questioned about remarks ascribed to corruption-accused former president Jacob Zuma, who is now spearheading the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s campaign, that the IEC is biased towards the ANC, IEC commissioner Janet Love said they received no evidence of bias and rejected “this kind of talk”.

She added attempts to inject an “almost insurrectionist mood” into the country were undemocratic and unacceptable.   

Love said: 

People can check whether they are correctly registered through the following channels: 

• The IEC’s call centre at 0800 118 000.
• SMSing your identity number to 32810.
• The commission’s website at www.elections.org.za.
• WhatsApp Chatbot on 0600 88 0000.