IEC's capture of 500,000 new registrations met with mixed reviews
The IEC announced the outcomes of its weekend-long registration drive, which showed that 70% of those who registered for the first time were young people.
JOHANNESBURG - As the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) pats itself on the back for exceeding its target by interacting with more than 2 million South Africans, its announcement of capturing 500,000 new registrations has been met with some mixed reviews.
The IEC announced the outcomes of its weekend-long registration drive, which showed that 70% of those who registered for the first time were young people.
South Africa is fast approaching its 7th democratic elections.
READ: IEC appeals to community members to allow people to exercise their right to vote
The IEC and political parties are struggling to get at least 14 million of the country’s youth to participate in its polls.
With just one more big registration drive set to take place before the country elects new national and provincial leadership, there are questions on whether the IEC's first round was a success.
For Rivonia Circle’s Tessa Dooms, it was a major failure, as she raised concerns over the lacklustre approach to the registration drive by both the IEC and political parties.
"We went through the motions of executing that a voter registration weekend happened, but if you asked people last week when voter registration is, they wouldn’t have told you."
Her view is completely at odds with Tshwane University of Technology’s Dr Levy Ndou.
"If we look at last week, the target for the IEC was only a million and they far exceeded it, and I would rate them very highly."
The IEC will hold another registration drive in the new year before President Cyril Ramaphosa proclaims a date for the elections.
