By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has announced the dates for the second and final voter registration, which will take place on Saturday, February 3 and Sunday, February 4 next year.
This second and final voter registration weekend will allow new voters to register and existing voters to inspect and if necessary update their registration details.
At the first registration weekend held last month, the voters’ roll was confirmed to have 26.8 million voters with 568,374 of those registering for the first time during that weekend.
The IEC said it was hopeful that the second registration weekend will build on and surpass the turn out recorded in November.
Similarly, South Africans living abroad will have an opportunity to register at South Africa’s 120 high commissions, embassies and consulates on January 26, 27 and 28 next year.
For the first time, South Africans abroad may now register as voters using the online self-registration portal by capturing their details and uploading a scanned image of their identity document.
In addition, voter registration will also be conducted in correctional centres around the country to allow inmates to exercise their right to vote.
The registration of inmates in the correctional centres will take place between January 30 and February 1.
Family members of those who are incarcerated in correctional facilities have been requested to deliver the identity documents of inmates to them ahead of this registration drive.
The IEC’s contact centre continues to be operational to assist citizens with queries and information about the registration process and information related to location of voting station. The contact centre, which can be reached on 0800 11 8000, operates from 8am to 5pm weekdays.