The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal recorded more than 119 000 new voter registrations over the past weekend, most being 18 to 35 years old.
Those who visited the 4 973 voting stations in the province either registered for the first time, re-registered at a different voting district, or confirmed their registration.
Provincial Electoral Officer Ntombifuithi Masinga on Tuesday said more than 534 000 people showed up at voting stations at the weekend with the number of eligible voters who had previously not been in their system pleasing the committee.
“More than 100 000 were new voters, who have not been on the voters roll before and among those were 21 000 between the ages of 16 and 17, who will be on the voters roll but will only be eligible to vote when they turn 18.
“More than 90 000 people between 18 and 35 registered to vote and this is the category we were looking for the most.
We were excited with this number but are still engaging in a lot of campaigns to try to attract young people to be on the voters roll.”
Nationally there were more than 568 000 new registrations, or 19.57% of total registration activity, with more than 420 000 aged 18 to 39.
The voters roll now has 26,8 million voters, an increase from 26.3 million before the registration weekend.
Gauteng continues to be inhabited by the majority of the country’s population, as well as being the largest voting block at 6.2 million registered voters.
The IEC said information provided by StatsSA revealed that prior to the registration weekend, 14 million young South Africans were still not registered to vote. The commission is working with various stakeholders to mobilise this category of voters to register for the coming elections.
Masinga said in KZN, the electoral body had embarked on a tertiary institutions activation campaign targeting all universities and TVET colleges.
“We have also partnered with the Department of Basic Education to avail platforms to conduct voter education and registration for young voters.
“Several other partnerships have been struck with state and civil society organs to increase the Electoral Commission’s footprint.”
The latest new registration figures show an increase from a single voter registration weekend in 2021 (433,198) but are not close to figures in 2014, when more than a million people registered to vote for the first time.
“If you are registering for the first time you need to first take a picture of your ID or smart card because you will be expected to upload it onto our system during the registration process,” Masinga said.
To check if you are registered, message your ID number to 32810.
The Mercury