SUSPENDING the arrival of tents and protests to complain about non-payment of other reported incidents in KwaZulu-Natal, as voting was being registered across the country at the weekend. Despite these incidents, registration continued well even though several centers were opened late due to delays in the arrival of tents, which were used for registration.
Mrs Ntombifuthi Masinga, the head of the Electoral Commission in the province, said that of the 5,021 centers in the province, 144 of them are temporary and tents were put up to continue the registration process.
“There are 13 centers where there has been disruption in which tents were used because they arrived late on the first day of registration, which is Saturday. These centers are in Durban, Alfred Duma, Lundi, Johannes Phungula and Maphumulo Municipality.”
He said there were five institutions that were delayed in opening due to the protest that closed the highway, N2 in Muziwabantu Municipality.
“The protestors were complaining about not being paid after repairing the road. The affected wards include ward 3, 7 and 8 in Harding. We thank the police for restoring stability and registration to vote continued.”
He pointed out that 330,000 people registered to vote nationwide on Saturday around noon.
“There were 126,000 in this state. We expect the commission to release a full report on how the weekend registration process went throughout the country.”
These figures are expected to be released today.
The national commission listed KZN, Eastern Cape, as the provinces with the highest number of registrants. Gauteng and Limpopo are next.
Mrs. Masinga thanked the 10,000 workers who were working in 44 municipalities in the province. He reminded voters that registration to vote continues until the date of the election is officially recorded in the government register.
“We encourage people to continue to check where they are registered by going to: registertovote.elections.org.za. They can also go to the commission offices in the municipalities which open from 8 am and close at 5 pm on weekdays.”
They can also call: 0800 11 8000 to check where to register. They can also send a text message to:32810. Those who have been moved to other wards due to the re-designation of boundaries, will be able to get this information when they submit their details.
It will be remembered that in this November 4 election, you can only vote where you are registered, you cannot vote anywhere, as is the case in the national election.