PRETORIA, Feb 7 (NNN-SANEWS) — South Africa’s Electoral Commission says 1.2 million new voters have been added to the voters’ roll since November 2023, as the country prepares for this year’s National and Provincial Elections.
Briefing the media on the outcomes of the final voter registration weekend on Tuesday, Chief Electoral Officer, Sy Mamabolo, said the two registration weekends have given the country a growth of 1.2 million citizens on the voters’ roll.
“Following these two registration drives, the voters’ roll now stands at 27.4 million. Regarding the past registration weekend, over 2 million (2,060,754) citizens interacted with the commission by either visiting the 23,303 voting stations or using the online voter registration portal.
“The interactions ranged from applying for registration as new voters or updating the registration details in the case of those already registered. Of the 2 million transactions recorded this past weekend, 457,384 or 22% were new entrants on the voters’ roll,” Mamabolo said.
Of the new registrations, 77% are young people under the age of 29 entering the voters’ roll for the first time. New registrations for young people stands at 352,524.
Mamabolo said a total of 1,606,370 or 88% voters inspected and updated their registration details, and this is in line with the message that a voter must register and vote in the voting district where they reside, unless they notify the commission of an intention to vote elsewhere.
A total of 1,818,379 applications were also captured at the voting stations, while 240,789 were recorded online.
Mamabolo said KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of registrations with 2,510,670 transactions, followed by Gauteng which recorded 452,596, while the Eastern Cape came third with 305,460 transactions recorded.
KwaZulu-Natal also recorded the highest number of young people registered at 103,647 followed by Gauteng at 82,168, and the Eastern Cape at 43,673.
The gender of the new registrations was evenly split with female registrations accounting for 233,364, which is 51%, while the male new registrations account for 224,020, which is 49%.
Mamabolo noted that Gauteng remains the province with the biggest voting population at 6.4 million voters, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 5.7 million, then the Eastern Cape at 3.4 million voters.
“The age category 20-29 at 4.3 million now represents 48% measured against the voting age population. The online registration portal has greater usage in the province of Gauteng at 99,522, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 43,240 and the Western Cape at 33,822.
“Young persons under the age of 29 account for 47% usage of the online registration portal. Females are more likely to use the online portal more than males do at 58% or 139,313. With two registration weekends under its belt, the commission now turns its focus on ramping up preparations for the National and Provincial Elections 2024,” Mamabolo said. — NNN-SANEWS
