Pretoria - The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) on Sunday urged all eligible voters to take advantage of the final day of the final weekend of voter registration at the country’s 22 925 voting stations to register and update their address details so that they are able to participate in the upcoming national and provincial elections.
Voting stations would be open until 5pm on Sunday. Thereafter voters would only be able to register at their local IEC office during working hours – and only for a brief period until the elections were proclaimed. Once proclaimed, the voters’ roll for the 2019 national and provincial elections was closed, the IEC said in a statement.
"The electoral commission is pleased to report that almost all voting stations were reported open and operational at [11am on Sunday]. In all but a handful of cases incidents which had affected registration operations yesterday [Saturday] morning were resolved and stations either opened during the course of the day or this morning [Sunday]."
In the few areas where community protests were still preventing voting stations from opening on Sunday, electoral staff supported by South African Police Service (SAPS) personnel were liaising with community leaders to ensure stations would open as soon as possible.
"The electoral commission would like to thank community leaders, various local government representatives, traditional leaders, and other stakeholders for their support in ensuring voter registration activities could continue unimpeded today.
"The electoral commission would also like to express its appreciation to the security agencies, including the South African Police Service and various metropolitan police departments, for their assistance in ensuring the safety of voters and electoral staff over the weekend," the IEC said.