By Lehlohonolo Lehana.

Young people made their voices heard during the weekend's voter registration drive after they made up the majority of the new voter registrations before the 2024 national and provincial elections.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) gave an update on several issues, including the number of new registrations captured, registration numbers breakdown per province and activities on the online voter registration portal.

According to the IEC, there were 2 904 037 total registrations on Saturday and Sunday with the majority, about 2,7 million, visiting voting stations to register or update their information.

On Sunday, the IEC said over a million registrations were recorded at 23 296 voting stations.

The commission said it is seized with resolving some online registrations that gave a "pending" message.

"The 'pending' message is received by voters in instances where the ID image that they have uploaded cannot be read or recognised by the system or where an image other than an ID has been uploaded.

It applauded the thousands of South Africans who have gone online and visited registration stations to register, re-register or check their details. 

Eligible voters who registered for the first time made up about 20% (568 374) of the total registrations; voters who re-registered in the same voting district were about 1,4 million; and those who changed their address details were about 929 000.

According to the IEC, Gauteng (610 948), KwaZulu-Natal (559 933) and the Eastern Cape (516 547) recorded the most registrations over the weekend.

The voter roll in South Africa now stands at 26,82 million.

The youth (aged 16 and 29) account for the majority of new registrations, with 445 089 (78.31%) of the 568 374 new registrations coming from that age category.

Electoral Commission of South Africa's chief electoral officer, Sy Mamabolo said the large number of young people registering showed that the IEC's electoral efforts to attract young people were working. 

This crucial age demographic comprised 78.31% of newly-registered voters, Mamabolo said. 

"Therefore, the commission's continued focus on young persons is producing a good yield. The commission will persist with efforts to improve the registration levels of the youth," Mamabolo said. 

Mamabolo was giving an update at a media briefing in Centurion, Gauteng, on Monday. 

Online registrations through the IEC online portal were 196 511.

The commission held a two-day registration programme at the weekend, the first ahead of the 2024 national and provincial elections.

In light of the protests and demonstrations over the weekend that disrupted some voter registration stations, the IEC said those who couldn't register and update their details can do so during a second registration weekend or do so on the online portal.

The second registration weekend will be announced soon, said Mamabolo.

 The online registration portal is still available, and citizens have been urged to continue to use it to update their information and register to vote.

Watch Live in the video below:

Video Courtesy of IEC.