Deputy Chief Electoral Officer of the the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC), Masego Sheburi, has announced that more than 326,000 people have turned up to register for elections so far on Saturday.
Sheburi said the number showed that there was a huge interest in voter registration and Saturday was the first day of the registration weekend.
He said the 326,000 voters excludes 26,000 who have registered online from across the world.
By the time they opened their voting stations, 90% of the stations were fully operational.
He said the Department of Home Affairs has promised to keep its offices opened to allow people to collect their IDs.
Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said recently there were more than 500,000 unclaimed identity documents in their offices.
Sheburi said the high turnout showed that people were taking elections seriously.
He also said the technology they were using has been able to speed up the process.
“In the initial hours of this two-day registration weekend 326,000 voters had visited their voting stations and had their applications processed using the voter management device.
“This sets a good tone for the two days of voter registration. To repeat, 326,000 persons had visited stations and their transaction had been processed by 11:30am. The turnout thus far is testament to the strength of our democracy and we urge every South African to seize the moment.
“The efficiency witnessed is credited in the main to the innovative technology that we introduced in the 2021 elections. Our voter management devices have captured thousands of registration details even in areas challenged by connectivity issues. Those are captured on the device and once you establish connectivity to the GSM those records will be transmitted,” said Sheburi.
He would not give details on the voters who showed up to register on Saturday, but said once they have finished the registration process they will be in a position to provide more information on whether the voters were young people or other groups.
Political parties are also out in their numbers urging people to vote.
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