By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) says its voter registration drive attracted 104 000 South African voters in the first few hours on the first day of the two-day registration weekend.
Mamabolo addressed a press briefing on Saturday to outline the latest voter registration figures.
“The commission is impressed by the turnout and urges South Africans to continue to go out in their numbers to register. We are making a special plea to first-time voters to take the patriotic step to make their mark in history by voting in the forthcoming elections.
“The commission is happy to report that over 98% of our stations opened on time and were able to use material, which was delivered on time, to start registering voters,” Mamabolo said.
A total of 53 voting stations did not open on time, Mamabolo said.
“This was, in the main, due to service delivery protests by communities seeking to use the registration weekend to draw attention to their issues. In almost all the incidents, the commission, working with the police and local leaders, was able to resolve the problems and registration continued or is in the process of establishing operations,” he said.
Most of the service delivery protests were in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, and Soweto, Gauteng.
Saturday was the first time the IEC used its new voter management devices.
“We are also happy to report that our new and exciting technology, introduced in the registration process, is working well, despite the teething problems experienced in the first two hours of this morning.
“The commission picked up a technical problem in the new voter management devices (VMDs), which are being used for the first time on a mass scale during this registration weekend,” Mamabolo said.
He said a “deliberate decision” was taken to operate the VMDs in an offline mode to resolve a glitch in the mapping functionality.
Voters, who are registered, can confirm their registration online on the website, on the IEC app, or by calling the contact centre at 0800 11 8000. Furthermore, an identity number can be sent to 32810 via text.