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Political parties used the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) voter registration weekend to campaign for the November local elections.
President Cyril Ramaphosa, dressed in ANC regalia, and senior Gauteng ANC heavyweights such as premier Panyaza Lesufi and MEC Lebogang Maile participated in a door-to-door voter registration drive in Tshwane where they handed out ANC merchandise and encouraged people to vote for the party in November.
Elsewhere in SA, other political parties also used the opportunity of the voter registration drive weekend to win support.
Ramaphosa met with 22-year-old Ofentse Zobane, who was being helped to register to vote. She told him during their brief interaction that she could not pursue a nursing career, as she received low marks for her 2020 matric results.
Addressing the media, Ramaphosa said: “Service delivery here in Atteridgeville is not a big challenge because the municipality is doing very well. And the councillor that I have been going around with is well known, and she attends to the problems of the community.
“The ANC support here is quite solid; I have met many people — old, young and middle-aged — who are all very supportive of the ANC, so I go away from here feeling very encouraged.”
An IEC official at the Atteridgeville voting station near where Ramaphosa was campaigning told Sowetan that the turnout of young people at the weekend had not been that impressive.
“Yesterday we had about seven; today so far it’s around five, but also during the 2024 general vote registration we saw a low turnout of those who came to register, but the number was high during elections, so it tells you that they register digitally,” she said.
Ahead of the voter registration weekend, the IEC noted that 70% of eligible youths aged 18 to 19 had not yet registered to vote.
The IEC said on social media on Sunday that 330,000 people had registered to vote for the first time since Saturday morning.
Its data showed KwaZulu-Natal leading, followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
Meanwhile, the IEC warned the public about a fake job recruitment notice and other misleading election-related content circulating on social media and messaging platforms.
The commission urged the public to remain vigilant and stressed that it does not use unofficial websites, WhatsApp numbers, or “link in bio” social media posts to advertise or process job applications.
All legitimate employment opportunities are only advertised through the Electoral Commission’s official website, it said.
Sowetan