MBOMBELA – South Africans are going to the polls again this year, this time to vote in the local government elections. The municipal elections have to be held sometime between May 18 and August 18.
The date of the election is still to be gazetted by president Mr Jacob Zuma. In the meantime, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is offering new voters and those who have moved the opportunity to register to vote where they live.
- Visit the IEC website.
If you have moved house, you should re-register in order to vote in your ward. Since the boundaries of some wards have also changed, residents may now reside in a different ward than previously, without then having moved. Their voting station may be different too and they should re-register.
Mbombela and Umjindi local municipalities are also being amalgamated. There will now be 45 municipal wards between the two and their boundaries have been reconfigured by the municipal demarcation board (MDB). The two councils will cease to exist as separate entities on the date of the elections, when a new council for the whole area will be elected.
According to a policy brief by the Institute for Security Studies, in 2011 (the previous municipal elections) Mpumalanga had the second smallest percentage of registered voters. Only Gauteng had a lower percentage. Of Mpumalanga’s 2 389 406 voting-age residents, only 1 860 834 were registered, or 77,9 per cent.
To register, or re-register, a prospective voter must be at least 16 years old, although they must be 18 to cast a vote.
Bring you ID or smart ID card or valid temporary ID certificate to your voting station to register.
Mr Sibusiso Nkosi, spokeman for the IEC in Mpumalanga, said only a valid ID was needed to register or reregister in a ward, and not a proof of address, but prospective voters would be required to supply an address verbally.
“Ward representatives and party observers will be present in case anybody tries to fraudulently register in a ward in which they do not live,” he explained.
To find out where you are registered, SMS your ID number to 32810.
Election posters may not be erected before the official date of the election has been gazetted. Posters encouraging voters to register are not considered election posters. In terms of Mbombela’s by-laws, no political party may erect a poster without obtaining the municipality’s written approval.
- Read more: Municipal by-laws clear on posters
