By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially proclaimed the election date, with South Africa set to head to the polls in May.
The proclamation was published in a gazette on Friday morning.
On Friday afternoon, the Presidency, in a statement, also announced that Ramaphosa had also proclaimed the day of the election a public holiday.
“In terms of section 2A of the Public Holidays Act, I hereby declare May 29 2024 as a public holiday,” President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a government gazette on Friday.
The declaration was signed on Wednesday and accompanied by a proclamation declaring the election date.
Ramaphosa said the elections coincide with South Africa’s celebration of 30 years of freedom and democracy and urged eligible voters to fully participate.
South Africans have until midnight on Friday, 23 February to register to vote. The voters’ roll will close after midnight on the day the proclamation is published.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is expected to meet with the national party liaison committee to finalise an election timetable.
The timetable, which will outline the various cut-off dates for the performance of certain electoral activities, will be published in a Government Gazette after consultation with the committee.
The IEC had targeted 39.7 million people for this year’s elections, but only 27.6 million have registered to vote so far.
In the 2019 national and provincial elections, the voters roll stood at 26.7 million eligible voters. Voter turnout in the last general election was 66.05%.
Parliament’s term will come to a close on 21 May, a few days before voting day.
This means the elections will be held after the expiry of term of the sixth administration.
Despite the expiry, the voting day will be within the 90 day timeframe mandated by the Constitution for South Africa to conduct elections after the end of the term of the current Parliament.