By Zukile Majova
Millions of South Africa’s young people are simply not convinced to register to vote and vote in the 2024 national general elections.
The Electoral Commission, the private sector, non-governmental organisations and political parties have pulled out all the stops to get over 13 million people to register to vote, but it has not been successful.
On day one of the second voter registration weekend, the IEC reported that it processed just 55,019 people who were registering for the first time.
Some 304,221 voters visited voting stations on Saturday.
On Sunday, the IEC reported that 564,715 had visited voting stations mostly to check their registration statuses or update their addresses.
The IEC said there were no glitches of any kind that may have delayed voter registration, adding that 99% of its 23,303 voting stations nationwide were open by 8 am.
There was also no good news on the online registration platform that the IEC opened mainly to make it easier for young people to register to vote.
On Saturday, just 67,200 people visited the online registration while 34,293 had visited it by Sunday afternoon.
The IEC said there were over 40 million people of voting age in SA but only 27 million were registered on the voters roll.
Roger Jardine, the founder of Change Starts Now, spent the weekend with young people as his party hosted a “Jamming to Vote for Change” free concert at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba took his campaign to the ANC stronghold of Mbombela in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga.
Leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, used the voter registration weekend to promise beneficiaries of the R350 grant that the EFF would pay the beneficiaries thousands of rands, depending on their level of education.
“If you don’t have matric, you will get R350. From matric upwards, R2,000. When you get your degree, R5,000. And when you get your honours, R6,000,” said Malema.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa campaigned in Soweto where he was criticised for visiting a spaza shop owned by an Ethiopian immigrant.
South Africans in Gauteng township are fighting to get rid of spaza shops that are owned by illegal foreigners.
Pictured above: Ballot box.
Image source: X
