Chief electoral officer of the Electoral Commission of South Africa, Sy Mamabolo. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
With Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal making up more than 40% of the voters roll, the result in South Africa’s two most populous provinces is set to influence the overall outcome of the 29 May elections.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said this week that Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal jointly account for 44 per cent of the country’s nearly 28 million registered voters.
According to the IEC, Gauteng has 6.5 million voters and KwaZulu-Natal has 5.7 million.
The Eastern Cape comes in third with 3.4 million voters.
KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are where the ANC is most vulnerable, with polls suggesting the party will likely dip below 50%. A decline in these provinces could also jeopardise the ANC’s national majority.
The Democratic Alliance has formed a multi-party charter pact with other opposition parties to ensure the ANC’s electoral decline in the provinces.
Speaking at the Gallagher Convention Centre on Thursday while hosting the signing of the electoral code of conduct, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the certified voters’ roll stands at 27.7 million voters.
Mamabolo said South Africa has not seen this level of registration since the voters’ roll was first established in 1999.
He said since the IEC launched the online registration portal in July 2021, 2.4 million voters had used it to either register for the first time or change their registration details.
Mamabolo said according to historical trends, there are more female voters than men – 15.3 million for the former and 12.4 million for the latter.
“We have now grown the network of voting stations to 23 292. In ordinary terms this means the Electoral Commission is providing a service at over 23 000 points across the country,” he said.
“There are 954 temporary sites where physical infrastructure is not available. Temporary amenities are in the process of procurement to ensure that voters who have to use these temporary facilities also vote in circumstances that affirm their inherent human dignity.”
He said consistent with the provisions of the election timetable on 12 April, the IEC will publish a list of all voting stations and their locations.
“We have now grown the network of voting stations to 23 292. In ordinary terms this means the Electoral Commission is providing a service at over 23 000 points across the country,” he said.
“There are 954 temporary sites where physical infrastructure is not available. Temporary amenities are in the process of procurement to ensure that voters who have to use these temporary facilities also vote in circumstances that affirm their inherent human dignity.”
He added that special vote applications for purposes of home visits and voting station visits will open on 15 April and close on 3 May. Home visits are intended for those voters who are infirm or otherwise unable to travel to voting stations.
“Voting station special votes are for everyone who is unable to attend the voting station on election day. Special voting will be conducted on the two days preceding election day. Special votes will also be administered at the diplomatic missions of the Republic.
“As matters stand, 58 000 voters have registered on the international segment of the voters’ roll. These voters will be provided for at the diplomatic missions of registration. South Africans who are registered on the local segments of the voters’ roll but who may be temporarily absent from the country have an opportunity to notify the Commission of the intended absence and the mission where they intend to vote.”
“Such notifications must be lodged with the Chief Electoral Officer by 22 April. As at today 9 100 notifications have been approved. At the moment, therefore, there are 67 000 South Africans who are going to be voting outside the Republic. This special voting will happen at missions about 10 days ahead of general voting in the country.”
He said indications are that 70 political parties and 11 independents have succeeded in submitting nominations.
Fifteen political parties are contesting all tiers of the elections and in total there are over 14, 903 candidates vying for 887 seats in the National Assembly and Provincial Legislatures.
“In the nature of candidate nomination processes, there are disputes which the Electoral Court is seized with. These may marginally alter the number of contestants. The Commission will, on 10 April, publish the final list of candidates as well as the list of parties to contest the various tiers of the elections.”
“As matters stand, there are 52 parties on the national compensatory ballot. This means, decidedly, that this ballot will be configured as a dual column ballot. The rest of the eighteen other ballots will remain single column ballots which have been in use since our founding elections in 1994. We will issue certificates of candidature on 12 April.”
Mamabolo added that the elections are foundational to the country’s democratic project.
He said elections foster legitimacy in governance, electoral accountability, political representation, macro-political stability and development, adding that the IEC wanted to affirm its readiness to conduct an election which accords with the constitutional yardsticks and international norms.
“We give this affirmation of readiness alive to the enormity of the challenge that rests in our hands. We stand ready to assiduously ensure that we do not let the motherland down, for otherwise history will have deleterious accounts of our charge of this task,” he said.