Pretoria — With the
first registration campaign for the 2016 Local Government Elections scheduled
for this coming weekend, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says it is
targeting the youth to participate in voting as this group remains
under-represented in the voter's roll.
Statistics show that South Africa's voter's roll
currently has approximately 25 million voters, and the commission is
encouraging all eligible voters to get registered and those who are already on
the voter's roll to update their details, ahead of the local government
elections.
Out of the 25 million voters on the voter's roll, youth
only make up to less than ten million, yet, according to Statistics South
Africa, those who are below the age of 35 years constitute about 66 percent of
the total population of 54 million.
IEC Chairperson Glen Mashinini spoke to SA News on the commission's
plans to encourage young people to participate in elections.
"Our
campaigns are primarily focusing on the youth. We are just going to call on
people to update their details, but we are still trying to push the drive for
youth to register," says Mashinini.
He says all voting stations will open between 8am and 5pm
on 5 and 6 March 2016, for eligible voters to register, re-register and to
update their details.
To be able to vote, you must register as a voter. Once
you've registered, your details appear on the voters' roll. The voters' roll
helps the commission to plan an election and identify fraud as it shows how
many voters to expect in each voting district.
Although youth are under-represented in the voter's roll,
Mashinini says the figures indicate that there has been an increase in the
number of citizens captured on the voter's roll over the years.
"When we started in 1998, we had about 18.5 million
people, but today we are sitting at about 25 million. It is a steady growth,
however we are still saying the young people remain under-represented compared
to other age groups. Hence our focus in this round of registration is to
encourage youth people," says Mashinini.
He says it is
everybody's patriotic responsibility to ensure that they are part of democracy,
and that young people are important as they are part of the country's citizens.
"The importance of getting young people to vote is
that their participation will ensure that their will is represented in the
political system of the country.
"The Importance of Local Government Elections is
that, that is where most of the services that affect you and me on a daily
basis are provided. It is the heartbeat of any economy that is provided by the
cities. It is where the quality of life is being determined. That is why it is
important for young people - and every citizen should exercise their right to
vote," says Mashinini.
The commission is also considering additional
opportunities for voters to register and update their information ahead of the
2016 local government elections.
Mashinini
also says the commission will seek urgent engagements with the leaders of
political parties represented on the National Party Liaison Committee and other
key stakeholders this week, to brief them on preparations for the elections.
Meanwhile, the Commission's Deputy Chief Executive
Officer, Simon Mamabolo, says it's all systems go for the registration weekend,
and all voting stations have been procured through the necessary lease
agreements, and processes are either complete or underway at the temporary
voting stations.
"Logistically, we have held our registration
material in our provincial and municipal warehouses for few months already.
Most of this week, we are moving the material as close as possible to where
registration points are.
"Staff has been trained. We are poised for a
well-run registration process, we are poised for huge numbers in this
registration period," says Mamabolo.
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