Last chance to register

THE public will have one more chance to register to vote in next year’s local government elections. The second registration weekend has been earmarked for 9 and 10 April.

This comes after several ‘hiccups’ being reported in the first registration weekend in March.

Approximately 17 people gave up on registering at the North Crest Primary School as there was only one official posted at the station, said Durban North ward councillor, Shaun Ryley.

What’s more, he said a number of people were also turned away from the Chelsea Preparatory School station as officials were demanding proof of residence. Ryley assured the public that this was not a registration requirement stipulated by the IEC and urged anyone to report such demands.

Other anomalies that were detected during the weekend, said Thabani Ngwira, the senior administrative officer of electoral matters at the KZN provincial office, was that some voters’ names did not appear on the voters’ roll, even though they had been voting at the same stations for decades.

“Voters who had voted at the same voting station for 20 years and had not moved found that they did not appear on the voters’ roll at that voting station, others checked online and by using the SMS system and were notified by these systems that they were registered, but when they went down to the voting station to double-check, they found that they did not appear on the printed voters’ roll. I urge everyone to take the time to personally go down to their voting station with their IDs and check if they appear on the voters’ roll, if you do not or if you have moved, please fill out the REC-1 form to re-register,” he said.

In other cases, said Ngwira, people discovered that while they were registered, their addresses did not appear on the voters’ roll. Some feared that this would disqualify them from voting next year.

However, Ngwira denied this, saying, “No voter will be disenfranchised because their addresses do not appear on the voters’ roll. As long as the voter appears on the segment of the voters of the voting district where they reside and are registered, they will be allowed to vote. However, we encourage all registered voters to visit their nearest voting station or our offices situated in municipal offices to update their registration details on the voters’ roll.”

Anyone unsure of the location of his or her voting station is urged to contact his or her ward councillor. Residents can also check to see if they are registered by SMSing their ID number to 32810.