The IEC has called for more young people to register to vote
Image: ITUMELENG ENGLISH
SA's Electoral Commission threw open the doors of more than 23,000 voting stations across the country on Saturday, giving unregistered citizens one final chance to sign up before this year's local government elections.
All 23,706 registration stations will be open until 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.
It is the last scheduled voter registration weekend before South Africans head to the polls on November 4 to elect ward councillors and municipal representatives.
At many stations, political party agents had already set up shop outside the gates by early morning, handing out pamphlets and flirting with voters as they arrived.
"The commission declares its full readiness to welcome South Africans of voting age at all 23,706 voting stations nationwide during the voter registration weekend," IEC spokeswoman Kate Bapela said.
Bapela said a media briefing would be held at about midday on Saturday.
In the Western Cape, where gang violence claimed four lives in a single shooting in Grassy Park on Thursday, the IEC moved to assure the public that registration stations were safe to visit.
Western Cape provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said police have been deployed in force across the province.
"In terms of this weekend, SAPS is deployed to ensure that there's high visibility across our province and at our voting stations, and they are also aware of if there are particular incidents they are capable of intervening in," Hendrickse said.
Meanwhile, home affairs offices across the country are also open this weekend, from 8am to 5pm on both days, to help citizens apply for or collect their Smart ID cards.
More than 370,000 Smart ID cards are sitting uncollected at offices around the country.
Home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber said: "This weekend presents an important opportunity for South Africans to ensure that they are ready to exercise one of their most fundamental democratic rights.
"By extending operating hours nationwide during voter registration weekend.
"Home affairs is making it easier for citizens to obtain the Smart ID cards they need to register and participate in our democracy."
The IEC has also been at pains to remind voters that registering was only half the job.
In local government elections, voters must cast their ballot in the voting district where they are registered.
It said there was no mechanism to vote elsewhere, a rule in place since 2000.
With ward boundaries having been redrawn by the municipal demarcation board ahead of this election, several voters have been shifted into new wards.
"In the context of a local government election, the correct placement of voters in wards is a crucial element for the delivery of free and fair elections," Bapela said.
"The commission calls on every voter to update their details, especially the address, as this will place them on the correct ward segment of the voters' roll."
To get ahead of the problem, the IEC ran a targeted campaign visiting 303,953 affected voters after the boundary changes.
It added 51,475 new voters and updated the details of 252,478 others, representing 83% of the total records it set out to fix.
The voters' roll currently stands at 28 million registered voters, up from 27.7 million at the 2024 general elections, though the IEC is losing roughly 34,000 names a month to deaths.
Of an estimated 38 million eligible citizens, about 10 million remain off the roll entirely.
Young voters were the IEC's biggest headache.
More than 70% of South Africans aged 18 and 19 have not yet registered.
The IEC has been running a campaign at universities and colleges that has reached 269,552 students since the start of the year, with 158,446 of them, nearly 60%, signing up for the first time.
A further round of campus outreach is planned after this weekend.
"The commission urges all eligible youth, especially first-time voters, to seize this opportunity to register to participate in these elections," Bapela said.
The registration weekend also falls during Youth Month.
The IEC has partnered with the SABC on a string of youth-focused television programmes, including voter education storylines in the television drama "Skeem Saam".
A youth docu-reality show, "Beats for My Peeps", which premiered on SABC on June 3 and airs every Wednesday, has also been brought in to talk to younger audiences about registering.
Dedicated 30-minute interview slots are being broadcast on 159 community radio stations nationwide, running until June 30.
Of the 48,212 registration staff deployed this weekend, 37,994 are women, and 10,218 are men.
More than 34,000 of them were unemployed before being taken on for the exercise, a figure the IEC pointed to as one of the broader benefits of holding large-scale electoral events.
The IEC said it conducted 34,356 civic and democracy education events, reaching more than 6.6 million people nationwide.
KwaZulu-Natal has the most stations at 5,021, followed by the Eastern Cape with 4,984, Limpopo at 3,317, Gauteng with 2,832, Mpumalanga at 1,846, the North West at 1,730, the Western Cape at 1,623, the Free State at 1,614, and the Northern Cape with 739.
Voters need a Smart ID card, a green barcoded ID book, or a valid Temporary Identity Certificate to register.
Proof of address is not required, but a place of ordinary residence must be provided so the system can place voters in the correct ward.
Meanwhile, the DA called the weekend a critical opportunity.
"Real change starts with one simple step: registering to vote," the party said on Saturday morning.
"The power to shape the future of your town, city, and community lies in your hands."
It added that it would be present across SA to assist voters.
EFF leader Julius Malema said it was important to register.
"The road to victory not only for the EFF, but for all South Africans, begins with voter registration," Malema said at the party's registration campaign launch in March.
The ANC kept its message simple, encouraging all South African citizens aged 18 and over to register to vote.
The Freedom Front Plus said it too was ready, with party representatives deployed across registration stations this weekend.
IOL