NATIONAL NEWS - The IEC in the Western Cape has released a media statement announcing that it has made great strides in increasing the province's eligible voters.
The certified voters' roll for NPE 2024 stands at 3 317 072, made up of 1 838 054 women and 1 479 018 men.
This represents 64,7% of eligible voters in the province and 11,94% nationally.
Of those registered to vote in NPE 2024, the age breakdown is:
- Under 30 : 452 820
- 40 to 49 : 738 268
- 30 to 39 : 726 302
- 50 to 59 : 626 854
- 60 to 69 : 418 968
- 70 to 79 : 209 649
- 80+ : 87 015
The province has shown a whopping 77,95% increase in registered voters since 1999, when that figure stood at 1 864 019.
Provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse says the province is steadily working its way towards becoming one of the top three provinces with the highest registered voters through consistent and extensive fieldwork programmes by the IEC outreach department. "Our efforts are paying off and we can only improve on this going forward. It is encouraging to see that South African citizens want to actively play a part in the country's democracy," he says.
The IEC is continuing these voter education programmes with campaigns such as schools’ democracy, a focus on the youth, people with disabilities, balloting and other election-related education.
Misinformation
Meanwhile, the IEC has noticed a worrying trend of misinformation doing the rounds. This has the potential to cause confusion among voters and detract from the organisation's goal of delivering free and fair elections.
It can take the form of deliberate acts of disseminating incorrect facts in an attempt to discredit the IEC, or as simple as misunderstanding certain aspects of the electoral process.
Another perturbing trend is that, through social media, some disgruntled citizens choose to take unsubstantiated pot shots at the IEC, setting in motion the perpetuation of untruths, innuendo and conjecture.
Says Hendrickse, "We really want to discourage this kind of behaviour which does more harm than good. Not only for us as an organisation, but it also hampers the unfettered roll-out of our democracy. The spread of lies undermines our democracy."
Check the facts
Please be reminded that the best way for you to get the facts is to check any information on official IEC platforms such as the IEC’s official website, www.elections.org.za, its social media account or media statements.
Also remember that for queries all the IEC offices are open Monday to Friday, from 08:00 to 17:00. You can also reach the call centre during office hours on 0800 11 8000.
