Clock is ticking for voter registration

AS the country awaits the final proclamation of the election date, last minute registration is still underway.

For Zululanders who missed last weekend’s final registration drive, there is one more chance to register at IEC offices located in each municipality.

While the election date has been announced for 7 May, it has not been published in the Government Gazette by President Jacob Zuma.

The voters’ roll closes on the day the President proclaims the election date, which is expected to take place before the end of February.

At Tuesday’s uMhlathuze Executive Committee sitting, Mayor Elphas Mbatha thanked all residents who registered to vote last weekend.

‘uMhlathuze has made good progress showing a huge improvement in registration figures. We can move to the 90% registration mark. The election date has not been proclaimed yet so we encourage people to register as soon as possible,’ said Mbatha.

With 171 304 registered voters on the roll in uMhlathuze, IEC Electoral Project Coordinator Nomthandazo Zulu said they were pleased with voter turnout.

‘The voters’ roll could even close this week so we urge those who have not registered to do so as soon as possible. At some voting stations, people were unable to register because they turned up late and queues were long. However, we managed to help those who were in the line at the time,’ said Zulu.

Closure

However, several voters told the Zululand Observer they were not notified about the closure of certain voting stations.

‘In November, I checked whether I was registered and was supposed to vote at Grantham Park voting station,’ said Ward 9 resident Megan Erasmus.

‘But last week, I heard through a friend that we had to re-register because our voting station had now moved to Richem Secondary in Empangeni.

‘I managed to re-register last weekend but nobody notified us of this change. How many people have not registered because they did not know about the change?’ said Erasmus.

When questioned about changes in demarcation and voting stations, the IEC said it had conducted a targeted communication and registration drive informing residents of changes.

‘Especially in Ward 9, we had fieldworkers doing door-to-door visits informing residents of the demarcation change, with some residents in the ward having to now register at Dumisani Makhaye Village.’

Registration can also be done at libraries throughout the City of uMhlathuze. For more information, call the IEC call centre on 0800 11 8000.