IEC worried about 1.2 million registered voters without addresses

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IEC worried about 1.2 million registered voters without addresses
IEC worried about 1.2 million registered voters without addresses

Africa-PressSouth-Africa. Cape Town – The Independent Electoral Commission says it was saddled with 1.2 million registered voters who don’t have recorded addresses ahead of the local municipal elections to be held later this year.

Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo told MPs that the electoral body had 8.4m complete addresses before the 2016 municipal elections.

Mamabolo said the commission now has 24.6m complete addresses.

He also said that although the bulk of the complete addresses were conventional addresses containing house numbers and street names, they have also accommodated rural and farm type of addresses.

“You can’t adopt one standard because the nature of human settlements in the country is not the same.”

Mamabolo said potentially incomplete addressed stood at 252 000.

“Persons without addresses are 1.2m, representing 4.7% without addresses. It is a matter you may take interest in,” he told MPs.

He, however, said they have made a legal provision that would allow the 1.2m people without addresses to vote on election day.

“They, however, will have to furnish an address or a place where they live in. If there is no address, sufficient particulars,” he said.

“No one is losing their right to vote. At the same time, people will have to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling,” he said in reference to the Constitutional Court ruling that the voters’ roll should have addresses of voters.

The IEC presentation to the portfolio committee showed that the voters with no recorded addresses were highest in Gauteng at 413 372, followed by KwaZulu-Natal 190 477, Eastern Cape 148 445, Mpumalanga 130 342, Limpopo 102756, Free State 94020, North West 77701, Western Cape 49 250 and Northern Cape 21 544.

In terms of potentially incomplete addresses, KwaZulu-Natal led the pack with 62 121 voters followed by Eastern Cape 51 311, Gauteng 42 103 and Western Cape 39 329.

Mpumalanga has recorded 17 229, North West 13321, Northern Cape 12 777, Free State 10 760 and Limpopo 3911.

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Political Bureau

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