- Home Affairs will extend office hours from 2 November to help voters collect identity documents before the local government elections.
- The Electoral Commission will launch its national results centre in Midrand, where political parties can monitor votes and raise objections.
South Africans who still need their identity documents before next week’s local government elections will get extra time to collect them.
The Department of Home Affairs is extending its office hours to make sure eligible voters are not left out because they do not have the right documents.
Offices will open from 8am to 6pm between 2 and 4 November.
On election day, Wednesday 4 November, offices will open at 7am and close at 9pm.
The longer hours will allow people to collect identity documents they have already applied for, submit new applications or get temporary identity certificates where possible.
Home Affairs is urging people whose documents are ready to collect them before voting day.
The department has also asked community leaders and local organisations to encourage residents to check that they have the correct documents.
But voters must remember that not every form of identification will get them through the voting station doors.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa says voters must present a smart identity card, a green barcoded identity book or a valid temporary identity certificate.
Driver’s licences, passports and photocopies of identity documents will not be accepted.
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission is preparing to open its national results centre at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on Wednesday.
The centre will be the main place where election results are collected, checked and announced.
Political parties will be able to follow their performance as votes are counted across the country.
Large screens will display voter turnout, election progress and verified results as they become available.
Parties will also be able to raise official objections if they have concerns about the results.
The commission will explain how its election dashboard will work during the municipal polls.
The preparations come after problems during the 2024 general elections.
During those elections, a technical glitch caused the national results centre’s leaderboard to go blank for about two hours.
The incident angered some political parties, including the uMkhonto weSizwe Party, which believed the interruption allowed votes to be rigged.
The Electoral Court recently dismissed the party’s application challenging the 2024 election results.
For voters preparing for the municipal elections, the immediate message from Home Affairs is to collect their identity documents in time.
Without an accepted identity document, voters will not be allowed to cast their ballots.
