South African citizens who are interested in voting in the 2024 general election may still register online. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has stated online registration would close when Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa announced the date of election.
The final chance to register in person was during the weekend, on Saturday, 3 February, and Sunday, with the first voter registration weekend taking place on 18 and 19 November last year.
In addition to new registrations, these opportunities were also aimed at accommodating registered voters who wished to confirm their voting point or change their details.
Voters can, however, continue to register for the 2024 national and provincial election via the IEC’s self-registration platform, registertovote.elections.org.za.
This will be the seventh general election held in post-apartheid South Africa, with the first-ever election in the era of democracy held on 27 April 1994.
Mosotho Moepya, IEC chairperson, has thanked South Africans for responding positively and registering during the just-ended two-day voter registration period. According to him just over 500 000 people visited voting stations across the country to register and check their registration details ahead of the 2024 elections. He said 34 293 online registrations were also recorded.
The positive response is believed to be a result of mobilisation by IEC, as well as the efforts of parties that have registered with IEC to contest this year’s national and provincial elections.
More than 360 political parties have shown interest in contesting the elections.
Political parties are rallying people to register to vote and have been criss-crossing communities, mobilising South Africans.
Parties have since urged Ramaphosa to use his upcoming State of the Nation Address (Sona), on Thursday, 8 February, to announce the date of the election. The president said he was consulting with the IEC.
At this stage, the IEC’s main mission is to increase the number of voters on the voters’ roll.
According to the IEC in the Free State, a total of 16 136 new voters managed to register during the first leg of voter registration in November.
However, the total number of registered voters on the Free State’s voters’ roll is below 50%, according to the commission. The provincial voters’ roll stands at 1 421 943 of the 2,9 million population of the province.
Nationally, the current voter registration figure of registered voters on the country’s voters roll stands at 27 173 114, according to IEC.
In terms of gender, women are in the majority at 15 017 323 (55,27%) while the number of men stand at 12 155 791 (44,73%).
Of these registered voters, there are people aged 80 years and above. Of this generation, women account for 932 011 (3,43%) while the men account for 573 069 (2,11%).
In the 70 to 79 year age group, the number of women is 932 011 (3,43%) and men 573 069 (2,11%); in the 60 to 69 year group there are 1 783 737 (6,56%) women and 1 300 130 (4,78%) men; for men and women aged 50 to 59 years, the figure of women stands at 2 486 215 (9,15%) and for men at 2 033 546 (7,48%); and in the 40 to 49 year category the number of registered women is 3 113 172 (11,46%) and 2 824 568 (10,39%) for men.
For youths aged between 20 to 29 years, the number of female voters stood at 2 301 956 (8,47%) while men stood at 1 889 882 (6,95%).
Voting apathy among the youth in South Africa remains a grave concern.
