Smoother start to day 2 of voter registration in most provinces across SA

JOHANNESBURG - The second day of this weekend’s voter registration appears to be going more smoothly than Saturday did in most provinces.

The weekend kicked off with a number of voting stations across the country not being able to open for registrations on time - or at all - on Saturday.

But on Sunday, most provinces reported that they’d managed to get up and running without a hitch, save for the Eastern Cape.

On Saturday, 17 voting stations in the Eastern Cape were affected by community protests and five didn’t manage to open and as of 10am on Sunday morning, ten hadn’t opened.

But in Mpumalanga, where more than a dozen voting stations were affected by various challenges on Saturday, the IEC said it has been smooth sailing so far on Sunday.

And in Gauteng, where there were delays in opening at least two centres on Saturday, they again said that Sunday had been absent of any issues.

KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, too, reported a good start.

Nkaro Mateta is the provincial electoral officer in Limpopo: "We are quite happy - all our stations are now opened and fully functional. We are just hopeful that today we’ll get the big numbers. Particularly those who are registering for the first time. We have a big target and we are trying to chase our target."

Mateta said they’re hopeful that the youth, in particular, would come out in their numbers.