Capricorn tops Lim voter registration numbers
A total of 73 467 people in Limpopo who registered to vote on the second week after the opening of voting stations were under the age of 30.
POLOKWANE – A total of 73 467 people in Limpopo who registered to vote on the second week after the opening of voting stations were under the age of 30.
This was revealed by Nare Mashita, an Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) Limpopo senior administration officer during a Salga provincial municipal manager’s forum at Bolivia Lodge on Friday.
She said there were 5 348 voters aged 16 and 17, whereas 18 100 voters were 18 and 19 years old. About 50 019 were voters between 20 and 29 years old.
According to Mashita, Capricorn district was leading with 16 307 voters, Sekhukhune 13 160, Waterberg 11 676, Mopani 8 045 and Vhembe district had the lowest number of voters with 4 020.
Vhembe’s low number of voters was due to Malamulele residents who did not register to vote as they were demanding to have their own municipality, she said.
“The IEC is facing challenges as the political climate is not always conducive. There are other factors such as service delivery protests, with the IEC caught in the crossfire, increasing litigation against the IEC by political parties, intra and inter party tension and the perception by stakeholders that elections are not only IEC business,” said Mashita.
“The IEC has identified areas of support from municipalities for the national and provincial election.
“We need the grading of roads in areas around voting stations, water tinkering where there is shortage of water, tents and chairs for emergencies, specialised vehicles for accessing difficult areas, secure areas for locking up special votes and time slots on programmes of municipality events for more educative publicity,” she said.
Thapelo Matlala, the provincial executive officer of Salga said they were more than ready to work with IEC officers, but municipalities could not contribute in areas that needed financial help.
