Youth flock to register
IEC says the voter registration weekend was a resounding success.
Ilembe district’s youth, aged between 18 and 29, came out in thousands to register to vote in next year’s elections.
Women were at the front of the queue, with over 50% of these young potential voters being female.
This is according to voter registration statistics that were released by the provincial Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) yesterday.
KwaDukuza municipality trended above other local municipalities with close to 8000 young people between the ages of 18 and 29 registering to vote.Almost 4000 of these were new voters.
Although Ndwedwe and Mandeni did not perform as well as KwaDukuza, statistics show that Maphumulo residents were not too keen as only about 6000 residents registered. Their numbers are especially low between ages 30 to 59.
Overall 36962 registered in voting stations around Ilembe on Saturday and Sunday.
Provincial electoral officer Mawethu Mosery said 620 864 voters registered at their 4747 voting stations over the weekend. He was happy that KwaZulu Natal recorded the highest voter turnout followed by Gauteng (572 395).
“Of 283 407 new registrations, 152 942 (57.97%) were female. This shows that women in general continue to be the highest group in our society that show interest in matters relating to elections, democracy and governance,” said Mosery.
He said he was impressed that youth also showed interest in registering their names on the voters roll as youth between 18 and 19 recorded 80 276, and youth between 20 and 29 recorded 120 065 new registrations, giving a 71% of new voters registered during the weekend.
Although there were no major hiccups reported over the weekend, president Zuma announced in parliament that 75 South African Defence Force members who were helping the police with security during the weekend will also be deployed for next year’s registration drive on February 8 and 9.
Voters are encouraged to visit their municipal electoral offices to register before the election is proclaimed. Those who cannot travel to their municipal offices can write to the IEC stating reasons and arrangements will be made for commission staff to visit them at their homes and register them.
To check if you registered SMS your ID number to 32810 or visit www.elections.org.za.
