MBOMBELA – Fears that the local government elections may be postponed to next year were allayed on Wednesday when the president, Mr Jacob Zuma, announced the voting date. South Africans will go to the polls on Wednesday, August 3.
The date falls within the Constitutionally-mandated window to have elections between May 18 and August 16.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) welcomed the announcement ahead of the final voter-registration weekend on Saturday and Sunday, as especially students, migrant workers and commuters could now plan where they might be on election day.
The IEC also announced this week that it would appeal the Constitutional Court ruling which forced the postponement of by-elections in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, the North West and the Western Cape.
It was feared that the postponement would result in the upcoming municipal elections also being postponed until next year.
In November last year the court ruled that a voter’s address or sufficient particularities of his or her place of residence were essential to ensure that the voter is registered in the correct voting district.
During municipal elections and by-elections a voter may only vote where he or she is registered. It is a criminal offence to knowingly register in a voting district in which he or she is not ordinarily resident.
During the previous registration weekend a number of voters in Mbombela were confused as to why they should re-register. According to the IEC, one may need to re-register if you have moved and/or if the boundaries of your voting district had changed.
Existing voters can check whether additional address information is required for them by SMSing their ID number to 32810 at a cost of R1.
An electronic PDF format of the required REC 1 form is available on the IEC website. Voters can complete them, print and take them with to their voting station. Voters without formal addresses will be required to complete and sign an affirmation form, which must accompanying the REC 1, in which they attest to the fact they live in the relevant voting district.
Currently 25,6 million voters are registered. The IEC says 80 per cent of the eight million eligible voters who are currently not registered are younger than 30.
It appealed to all eligible voters to make use of the opportunity to register and to update their registration and address details at their voting stations this weekend.
All 22 617 voting stations will be open between 08:00 and 17:00.
All those visiting a voting station should have with them a valid South African identity document. The Department of Home Affairs will again open its offices between 08:00 and 17:00 over the weekend to allow citizens to collect or obtain IDs in order to register.
Aside from the voter registration weekend, eligible voters have until the official proclamation of the date to register or re-register at local IEC offices.
- For more information visit the IEC’s website.
