All systems go for KZN voter registration weekend

Ntombifuthi Masinga.

KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga at the IEC’s KZN office. Picture: Jehran Naidoo/Independent Media.

Published Sep 17, 2021

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Durban – The KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga on Friday said that despite having a truncated timeline, it is all systems go for the voter registration weekend.

Masinga was speaking at the IEC’s provincial offices in Westville, Durban, ahead of the upcoming voter registration this weekend, which is set to run from September 18-19.

She said that the commission was prepared to hold the voter registration in July but due to the country entering a lockdown level 4 and level 3, it had to postpone twice until they had the green light.

Masinga said that it would be unfair to voters if they were to not hold a voter registration weekend.

“We are looking forward to the registration weekend and we are quite excited that given the timeline we were given by the Constitutional Court to hold these elections by November 1.

It was a balancing act on our side to still meet the timelines and also deliver a reasonably free and fair election,” Masinga said.

The commission said the number of wards in the province have increased from 870 to 901 after the municipal demarcation board had to adjust boundaries.

Two hundred and eighteen out of 4 983 voting districts were affected by the change in ward boundaries.

There will be 4 940 voting stations across KZN with the current registration figures showing that there are 5 331 300 voters in the province, 1 102 282 of which are between the ages of 18-29 years old.

Furthermore, it said that 11 065 people were recruited and trained ahead of the upcoming voter registration weekend to work at the voting stations.

“The revised election timetable as per the Constitutional Court order has drastically reduced the window the commission normally has from the date the election is proclaimed to the election day from the usual 86 days to 42 days,” the commission said.

Masinga said she was pleased to note that the commission has been making digital strides in the election process, as it will be introducing the Voter Management Device (VMD) to replace the previously used Zip-Zip scanner.

The system will provide them with live tracking information in parts of the province with a sufficient internet connection.

In parts without proper internet connection, she said the system will be able to store information and upload it once connected to their servers.

Political Bureau