/ 10 November 2013

IEC says voter registration progressing smoothly

Nthabiseng Mohale registers at the Bright Future crèche in Greenvillage
Nthabiseng Mohale registers at the Bright Future crèche in Greenvillage, Soweto, on Saturday. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)

Day two of the voter registration process was running smoothly, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Sunday.

"The process is going well. Being a Sunday, we are trying to motivate and make sure people go to stations," said spokesperson Kate Bapela.

"The turn-out so far has been very successful, but we can do with more. We want the figures to go up," said Bapela.

She said there was a mixture of young and old South Africans registering to vote for the 2014 general election.

Registration centres were open from 8am and would close at 5pm.

The IEC said a total of 22 263 stations were open.

Protests

On Saturday, chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya said sporadic protests had affected the registration process in some areas including Bekkersdal in Gauteng, Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, Malamulele in Limpopo, and the Joe Morolong municipality in the Northern Cape.

Bapela said the commission was "studying" the environment in which voter registration was taking place.

"We are allowing the process to simmer … and we will comment later."

South African Broadcasting Corporation radio reported that the IEC was confident that registration would proceed peacefully in the Eastern Cape on Sunday after dozens of stations in the province did not open on Saturday.

This was due to protests and problems in Sterkspruit, Port St Johns and Cookhouse.

Provincial electoral officer Thami Mraji reportedly told the broadcaster almost all stations had opened by Saturday afternoon. He said the IEC was working with the police to ensure staff were not intimidated. – Sapa