Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Des van Rooyen is expected to gazette and proclaim the date for the 2016 municipal elections on Monday.

Earlier this year, President Jacob Zuma declared August 3 the election date.

Once the date has been proclaimed, the electoral processes will start according to an official election timetable.

Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) spokesperson Kate Bapela said people who had not yet registered had until 5pm today to visit their nearest IEC office with an official South African ID document – either a green barcoded ID book, a smartcard ID or a valid temporary identity certificate.

Bapela added that the IEC was happy with the excellent turnout of the youth following the big drive to encourage them to register: “We had more than 60% of the young people registering to vote. It was a great turn-out.”

Following some interruptions during the voter registration weekend, Bapela said the IEC had been working with several community stakeholders such as community leaders and security clusters.

“Our main responsibility as the commission is to administer free and fair elections. . . where there are difficulties in communities, we would rely on the support and wisdom of community leaders to discuss their matters to make sure that we are allowed to enter communities to do what we are mandated to do. That is our major responsibility.”

Bapela explained that the IEC added landmarks in areas where it was impossible to track addresses, as the landmarks were going to assist officials in locating the voters.