Successful voter registration weekend enhances democracy but also gives IEC an opportunity to improve shortcomings

21 November 2023

The Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs has unanimously applauded the generally successful first voter registration weekend and has called for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to strengthen areas of concern, including the infrastructure challenges in some areas. The committee today received a report on operations over the weekend and the general assessment was that the registration weekend was a success.

The interest shown by young voters between the ages of 16 to 29 is much appreciated and is a demonstration of the results that can achieved with a focussed and concerted effort to engage with this segment. The committee also considers the rollout of the online registration platform a necessary intervention that will attract more eligible voters to participate and vote. The committee acknowledged that the new registrations in the 16-29 age group accounted for 445 089 or 78.31% of the new 568 374 voters. The committee has encouraged the IEC to further enhance its interactions with this cohort to encourage further registration on the online platform.

The committee welcomed the information that 2.9 million voters interacted with the IEC over the two-day registration weekend, with most voters – 2.7 million – visiting voting stations to register and also update their details. The committee meanwhile applauded the report that (VMDs) increased the speed at which voter registration applications are processed, especially when working offline. In line with this, the VMDs processed 834 474 live transactions while the other 1 872 352 were captured and later processed.

In a sign of a maturing democracy, the committee acknowledged the increase in the overall numbers on the voters’ roll. The voters’ roll now has 26.8 million voters, an increase from 26.3 million before the registration weekend. The committee remains of the view that a mark of a strong democracy is the level of participation of eligible voters and reiterated its call for voters to continue using the online platform to register.

The committee also received a detailed briefing on recruitment processes for the voter registration weekend. The committee believes the IEC has demonstrated over time the transparency it adopts in its work. Of the electoral staff employed, 52% were under the age of 35, with a majority of them unemployed.

The committee also called on those who missed this opportunity to register during the next voter registration period, which will be announced once the date for elections is announced. The committee also encouraged voters to continue using the online registration platform to register. Meanwhile, the committee has criticised the sporadic prevention of registration reported in some areas. The committee acknowledges that while grievances in some areas might be legitimate, preventing others to fulfil their constitutional rights is unacceptable.

Meanwhile, the committee urged the IEC to strengthen some of its processes where inefficiencies where experienced, particularly around concerns with temporary structures used as voting stations. The committee called for better coordination during the next voter registration and during the actual elections.

The committee also welcomed the Department of Home Affairs’ intervention to open its offices over the voter registration weekend. The committee is of the view that the traffic witnessed during the weekend, with 20 350 clients receiving services, is further testament to the need for Home Affairs offices to open over weekends to ensure access to Home Affairs services at that time. Despite this, the committee is concerned that the State Information Technology Agency intended to do system maintenance during the weekend when the DHA intended to make services available. The committee welcome the speedy resolution of this miscommunication and has called for clear future communication.

Regarding the IEC performances over the first and second quarter of the 2023/24 financial year, the committee welcomed the achievement a majority of the targets as this sets the commission on a positive trajectory to continue being the apex organisation delivering transparent, free and fair elections.

Issued by Malatswa Molepo, Media Officer, Parliament, 21 November 2023