Grahamstown political parties who were represented by party representatives at different voting stations in and around Grahamstown say they were happy with how the processes were handled, apart from a few minor concerns.
Grahamstown political parties who were represented by party representatives at different voting stations in and around Grahamstown say they were happy with how the processes were handled, apart from a few minor concerns.
The results of the voter registration drive show that the Eastern Cape has performed excellently and exceeded the set target of 80 percent, according to Independent Electoral Commission Outreach officer Pearl Ngoza.
Mzwandile Qotoyi of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said the registration processes went smoothly in the areas where they were represented, but he pointed out that one of their representatives had been given a hard time at the Mary Water's voting station. "One of our members was refused entry into the voting station because nobody recognised him there, but I intervened and that issue was resolved," he said.
Nozipho Plaatjie of the Congress of the People (Cope) said she had visited various voting stations and there were no major problems, but there were a few glitches, which were manageable.
ANC's sub-regional secretary Andile Hoyi said they had prepared a statement about the registration weekend and said he would make that available to Grocott's Mail tomorrow, 13 April.
Last weekend, the final opportunity for voter registration in person at the polling stations, was much busier than the previous one, officials said.
Of the people Grocott's Mail spoke to at four registration venues in Grahamstown, two told Grocott's Mail that their names were unexpectedly missing from the voters roll.
According to party representatives at the Graeme College registration station, Sunday was busier than Saturday, with just under 100 registering on the first day and just over that number on the second.
Rhodes student Ryan Howden, registering at the Graeme College station, said he had registered at the Rhodes venue in March and that had gone "really quickly".
But then he was told to update his address and found he had been relocated to that venue. The second time around had been not too bad though, he said.
A Grahamstown businessman, also at the Graeme venue, said he had voted twice there – in 2011 and 2014.
He was not one of the tens of thousands across the country who received SMSes advising them to update their address details.
"I was surprised to see when I got here that my name wasn't on the voters roll," Warrick Strachan said on Sunday.
ANC representative and PR councillor Thuleka Ngeleza spoke to Grocott's Mail outside the Recreation Hall in Albany Road.
"This weekend was good," Ngeleza said. "There were lots of new registrations."
There had been reports of long queues at the station earlier in the day.
And the DA's Katie Marney said registration had gone beautifully: "Sharp-sharp!"
However, she said there had been two people who had voted there before whose names were missing from the voters roll.
Derrick Mbongwana, who was there to register, said the process had been "cool".
"I didn't know when I came if it would be quiet or not. I was lucky."
Councillor Lena May, who was based at the Graeme station, said earlier there had been long queues at the Albany Road venue.
Parties estimated that around 150 people registered at the Recreation Hall on Sunday.
Two IEC staff members were taken from BB Zondani Hall to bolster a busy Rhodes University registration point in the Drama Department, according to an official who asked not to be named.
Party representatives said there had been around 80 people who had come to check their details at BB Zondani, and almost as many new registrations.
Ntosh Mangesi, at BB Zondani to register for the first time, said it had been easy and peaceful.
According to party officials who had spent the weekend at the busy Rhodes University venue, around 400 people registered there.
Speaking about the registration weekend Ngoza said the total registration activity for the province was 512 655. Of this 89 239 were new registrations "which means that we have exceeded the 80 percent target".
Ngoza said the total new registrations for youth between 16 and 29 years old was 74 135 which is 83 percent of new registrations for the province. "The young people have again registered in high numbers which shows their interest in democracy and the elections," she said.
The 286 463 re-registrations in the same voting district indicate a good response to the call to submit addresses. Ngoza said in terms of voter turn-out and results the province is third after KZN and Gauteng which is in keeping with the comparative population figures.
The Electoral Commission has thanked the millions of voters who visited their voting stations over two registration weekends in March and April to register as voters and to update their registration and address details.
The IEC's national spokesperson Kate Bapela said over the two weekends a total of 1 384 254 new voters were added to the voters’ roll bringing the total number of voters to 26 296 601 million, approximately 77 percent of the eligible voting population.
Bapela said a total of more than 6.6 million voters visited their voting stations over the two registration weekends – including 3 581 540 during the past weekend. "This is almost two-and-a-half times more activity than in the two registration weekends for the 2011 Municipal Elections," she said.
Bapela said voters can still register and update their registration and address details during office hours at their local IEC offices countrywide until the Municipal Elections are proclaimed at which point the voters’ roll will be closed.
"Proclamation of the 3 August Municipal Elections by the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) is anticipated sometime in May," she said.
