Sandton’s ward councillors braved the heat on November 11, to host a registration drive in Parkmore ahead of the upcoming IEC registration weekend across South Africa.
Ward councillors Martin Williams (Ward 90), Lucinda Harman (Ward 102), Tim Truluck (Ward 117) and Andrew Stewart (Ward 91) were among those who joined Lynda Shackleford (Ward 109) at the initiative.
“Today the councillors of Sandton have set up a table to make sure that all our residents have an opportunity to register to vote,” Shackleford said. “On the official IEC weekend, there are hundreds of road closures in and around our wards, which means it’s going to be very difficult for a lot of residents to get to the different stations.”
Shackleford encourages the youth to vote and commends those who showed up to register for their opportunity to do so in the upcoming national elections.
“If you remember, if you’re not registered, you can’t vote when the president calls for the date of the election if you haven’t registered by then,” said Shackleford. “We don’t want people to be disappointed; It’s vital that the youth register, we’ve had eight brand new registrations just at the table here.”
Also participating in the registration drive were Ward 90 chairperson Bruce Curtin, as well as Dale ten Hope – who is the Sandton DA constituency chairperson. Ten Hope highlighted the importance of the upcoming election.
“It’s a definitive election,” Ten Hope said. “At this point, we need to make decisions, and we need to vote to make the changes that we want to see in this country.”
Volunteer Sarah Miller indicated why not voting next year isn’t an option for her, indicating that voting equates to having a voice.
“I think it’s important to have a change,” Miller said. “And it’s important to have a voice in life.”
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