By Lehlohonolo Lehana.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has assured the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs that all systems are in place to hold a successful voter registration this weekend. 

The commission briefed the National Assembly's home affairs committee on Tuesday about its readiness for the registration weekend.

The voter registration weekend will take place on November 18 and 19, with the IEC calling on citizens to register and to update their details for the 2024 general elections.

Currently, there are more than 26 million eligible voters on the voters' roll.

There will be 23 296 voting stations across all provinces, with more than 72 000 people being recruited by the IEC to assist over the weekend.

IEC deputy chief electoral officer (CEO) Masego Sheburi informed MPs on Tuesday that the commission had enhanced its systems after the first voter registration in 2021.

This included upgrading voter management devices (VMD).

"The scanning of IDs should take a quicker time because we have optimised the device to read off Android," he told the committee.

Sheburi said the offline mode has also been optimised, which will allow for the VMD to operate without connectivity.

In offline mode, what it means is that we can't process transactions in real time. The device stores the information on its storage drive and once a stable network has been established only then will the device transmit [the data]," He said.

Sheburi indicated that while South Africans abroad also have a voter registration weekend in January next year, he pointed out that they could register online.

"The out-of-the-country portal will be available effectively from this weekend and those South Africans who want to register there will have to upload [a picture of] their identity document. They don't have to go to a mission if they complete their application online."

He further said that there will be another voter registration weekend.

The committee welcomed the information that all systems are in place and encouraged all political formations to work with the IEC to encourage all South Africans to register to ensure they participate in the 2024 provincial and national elections.