Democracy

South Africans turn out to register

10 November 2008

Despite poor weather conditions, an estimated 1.1-million South Africans visited the more than 19 000 voter registration stations across the country on Saturday to register for the 2009 general elections.

"On Saturday, an estimated 1.1-million people had visited the voter registration stations to either register, re-register if they had moved or changed residence or to inspect their details on the voter's roll," Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) chairperson Brigalia Bam said in a statement on Sunday.

According to Bam, potential voters also visited the IEC website and contacted its call centre to confirm their voting status.

On Saturday, the IEC's website had received more than 206 556 hits, 195 598 people had sent SMSs and more than 22 500 had made inquiries on the IEC's call centre.

Bam said that for Saturday, their website had recorded a total of 59 137 hits, while the SMS facility received 53 540 messages and the call centre 19 444 from callers inquiring about their registration status or at which station they should register.

"We are promoting this national effort with the hope that it will help answer voter's questions, register new ones and make participation as simple as possible as we head into our general election next year," she said.

Bam added that they were confident of reaching their target of registering over two million new voters for the whole weekend.

Register to vote

According to News24.com, voters who missed the past weekend's registration drive can still register with their local municipal electoral officer, who is usually based at a municipality's civic centre.