SOUTH AFRICA – Over 1 million South Africans have been added to the voters’ roll in preparation for this year’s general elections, the date of which is yet to be announced.
According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), 1.2 million potential voters were registered on the voters’ roll during the last phase of voter registration weekends, which took place in November 2023, as well as the recent one held on February 3 and 4.
This figure brings the national voters’ roll to 27.4 million voters.
During the previous registration weekend on 17 and 18 November 2023, over 2 million eligible voters interacted with voting stations, with more than 23,000 utilizing the online voter registration portal.
The IEC reported that these interactions involved applying for registration as new voters or updating registration details for those already registered.
The electoral commission disclosed that 77% of the new registrations were young people under the age of 29 entering the voters’ roll for the first time.
Furthermore, 233,364 of the new registrations were female, while 224,020 were male.
The paper spoke with young people who registered to vote for the first time during the last voter registration weekend.
“I am so excited to be given this opportunity to exercise my right to vote for the party that I believe has my best interests at heart. It’s a wonderful experience, and I’m going to make full use of this opportunity,” said Nhlanhla Sibiya, who turned 18 in December last year.
Sabelo Madonsela (23) told the Highveld Chronicle that voting for the first time represents democracy for him. “There is no better democracy than this. I will use this democratic right to elect the party of my choice into government so that I can attain freedom,” he said.
