Political parties have used the final voter registration weekend to consolidate support and also woe voters ahead of the May 7th general elections.
Registration for the 2014 polls closed on Sunday at 5pm and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has indicated that there won’t be any extensions.
During campaigns, failures of the African National Congress (ANC) led administration have been the key focus with some parties going to as far accusing the ruling party of not caring about poor communities.
The Independent Electoral Commission says an estimated 1.2 million people across the country have registered to vote in this year’s election.
It says early indications from the country’s 22 263 registration stations show that young people have heeded the call to participate in the elections.
Initial indications show that about half of all visitors to registration stations yesterday were new voters aged between 18 and 29.
Despite the satisfaction expressed by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) about the outcomes of the weekend’s voter registration, there were serious disruptions in some parts of the country.
Residents of Bekkersdal on Gauteng’s West Rand disrupted IEC voter registration on Saturday and Sunday.
Trouble started on Saturday when the community clashed with the Red Ants that were supposed to clean the township ahead of the voter registration.
On Sunday, all voter registration stations were relatively quite as no none ventured to go and register.
For the second day in a row residents continued their boycott and violence erupted.
In Majakaneng near Brits in the North West, all IEC stations were opened on Sunday after protesting residents made it impossible for IEC officials to enter the area on Saturday.
There was unrest in the area on Thursday, when residents set fire to properties and vehicles.
The residents are demanding water, which they allege has been diverted to the local mining operation by some councillors in the Madibeng Local Municipality.
IEC Chief Electoral Officer for KwaZulu-Natal, Mawethu Mosery – says a few voting stations in the Durban Central Business District (CBD) ran out of voter registration forms on Sunday.
During the day there were indications from IEC officials at some voting stations that they were experiencing higher registration volumes than during the previous drive in November.
Mosery says officials have continued with registrations even beyond 5pm to accommodate people who are still in queues.
“We are aware of a few stations in eThekwini Central where they ran out of forms and we have supplemented their forms. There shouldn’t be a problem because they are now operational and functioning well,” said Mosery.
Western Cape ANC chairperson, Marius Fransman, says they are satisfied with the voter registration process in the province.
He addressed journalists in Manenberg on the Cape Flats.
Fransman says that people in the area have experienced difficulties due to gang violence. He says locals have told him that Premier Helen Zille had cancelled her visit to the area because of a shooting incident:
“It’s important that all of us come to Manenberg, even if it’s not a secure environment. What is important here is that the local government needs to be aware of such problems. It’s wrong for Zille to decide not to come to an area,” says Fransman.
Western Cape Community Safety Minister, Dan Plato: “The Premier received the necessary advice from the South African Police Services (SAPS) that it was not safe for her to go to Manenberg, she could have gone against their advice, however if anything happened, SAPS would say we told you so. The Premier is prepared to go back to the area when things are calmer.”
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