ANC KZN calls on citizens of wards which will soon hold by-elections to register to vote
15 September 2016
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has made a clarion call to all citizens of Ward 01 in Umuziwabantu Municipality (Harding), Ward 20 Alfred Duma Municipality (Ladysmith) and Ward 06 of Newcastle Municipality to ensure that they register to vote for the upcoming by-elections.
The three wards will soon conduct by-elections following a brutal murder of ANC councillor candidates Cde Bongani Skhosana‚ Cde Khanyisile Ngobese-Sibisi and Cde Thembi Mbongo few days before the August 3 Local Government Elections. The ANC emerged victorious in all three wards.
The ANC calls on the voters to use the open voter registration weekend to register and check their address status in all voting districts in the wards. In terms of the Constitutional Court ruling of June, 14, 2016, the Independent Electoral Commission is required to implement Section 16 (3) of the Electoral Act, which requires that voters’ rolls should contain the address of voters “where available”, for all by-elections following the 2016 Municipal Elections.
Therefore, it is important for the ANC as the leader of the society to ensure that a voter registration weekend becomes a resounding success.
“The 17th and 18th of September 2016 will be special voter registration weekend and it has to be utilized effectively to drastically increase the number of registered voters in the wards. It is important that all ANC activists in these wards play a vital role in ensuring that we have more people who will take part in the by-elections compared to the recently municipal elections,” said ANC Provincial Secretary, Cde Super Zuma.
All the Voting Districs will be open from the morning with the IEC employees assisting with registrations.
"Each ANC activist is expected to ensure that everyone in his or her neighbourhood is registered to vote. We expect all its activists to remind our people to register to vote. People who do not have means to travel to registration stations should be transported to the register in the respective Vds.
“We owe to our fallen heroes that we register, vote and secure a resounding victory in honour of their memory and their gallant struggles for better life for all,” he added
The ANC is architect of democracy in South Africa, and as such, we strongly believe that people should be assisted to exercise their right to choose people who will represent them in the local sphere of governance, Cde Zuma added.
He further called on the IEC to ensure that registration do not close while there are still people queuing waiting to be assisted to register or fix their addresses.
Cde Zuma said the ANC is poised for an overwhelming by-election victory and increase votes as the citizens of the respective wards will continue to honour our fallen cadres that they wanted to represent after August 3local government elections.
“People must carry all necessary documentation when they visit voting stations. The Constitutional Court had found in November last year that voters’ address particulars were an essential aspect of ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the voters’ roll. The ANC also have the responsibility to ensure that all its supporters in the respective wards have correct information and are indeed residing in those wards,” concluded Zuma.
Issued by Mdumiseni Ntuli, ANC Provincial Spokesperson, 15 September 2016
