The Independent Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) noted an increase in the voters’ roll this year, with most-populated Gauteng being the largest voting block with 6.2-million registered voters.

The Commission held its first two-day voter registration weekend on November 18 and 19, which saw over 2.9-million voters interact via registration stations or online.

The Commission noted that the total registration activity over the two days was 2 904 037. Eligible citizens registering for the first time were 568 374, this accounted for 19.57% of total registration activity.

Voters who re-registered in the same voting district were 1.4-million, and those who re-registered in a different voting district were 929 564.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded 559 933 voters; the Eastern Cape 516 547; Limpopo 332 557;  Mpumalanga 225 074; the Western Cape 227 620; North West 184 902; Free State 173 612; and the Northern Cape 72 844.

The Commission noted that people aged between 16 and 29 accounted for 445 089, or 78.31%, of the 568 374 new voters.

“Therefore, the Commission’s continued focus on young persons is producing a good yield. The Commission will persist with efforts to improve the registration levels of the youth,” the IEC said.

More females were recorded on the voters’ roll, with 298 500 new registrations, which equated to 52.52% being female.

The IEC reported that it had interacted with 2.9-million voters during the two-day registration weekend, with the majority of voters – 2.7-million –  visiting voting stations to register, as well as update their details.

A total of 196 511 voters used the online portal to do the same, said the IEC.

The IEC highlighted that since its inception in July 2021, the online registration portal had proven to be a success.

“Over the Registration Weekend, 196 511 transactions were recorded on this facility.

The provinces with the highest online registrations were Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The Commission was seized with resolving some online registrations that gave a “pending” message,” it explained.

The Commission said that the “pending” message was received by voters in instances where the identity document (ID) image that they had uploaded could not be read or recognised by the system, or where an image other than an ID had been uploaded.

The IEC has urged voters to take extra care and follow system prompts when uploading images of their ID.

The IEC said that the online registration portal remained available and citizens were urged to continue to use this platform to update their particulars and register to vote.

“We further urge those whose applications were not concluded on the system to finalise them.”