Pretoria - South Africans, especially first time voters, have been encouraged to go out and register to be able to vote in next year’s general elections.
“We call on all South Africans to honour our history and to continue to strengthen the legitimacy of our democracy,” said Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane.
Speaking to the media after the fortnightly Cabinet meeting, Chabane called on South Africans to be active participants in the democratic system.
“Cabinet calls all voters to ensure the 2014 elections achieve a large voter turnout, as we have seen in every election since 1994.”
Saturday, 9 November and Sunday, 10 November have been set aside by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) as registration weekend.
The IEC has set a target of getting two million new registrations by the time the voters’ roll closes before next year’s general elections.
All plans are in place for this weekend’s voter registration and the IEC is confident that all will go smoothly in all the 22 263 registration stations.
Registration will be between 8am and 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, where a total of 45 795 election officials will be standing by to verify the process.
To register, eligible voters need to be in possession of a green bar-coded ID book, or a temporary ID certificate (TIC) or the new smart card ID.
Chabane called on those who have not collected their ID books at Home Affairs offices across the country to do so.
“We encourage all those who have not collected their IDs to go out and collect them.”
The Department of Home Affairs will open its branches on Saturday and Sunday to coincide with the registration station hours (8am to 5pm) for the collection of ID books, smartcard IDs or Temporary Identity Certificates (TICs).
The general elections will be held in the second quarter of 2014.
No travel ban
In another issue, Chabane added that Cabinet has reiterated that government has not imposed a ban on travel to Isreal by government officials.
He said Cabinet was concerned about the statements in the public regarding South African Jews.
“Cabinet recognises the right of Palestinian people for self determination and the right of Israel to exist along side a Palestinian state. Their endeavour to find a solution to the conflict which will be just should continue. The South African Jewish community should have nothing to fear. Government has not imposed a ban on travel to Israel by government officials,” said Chabane. - SAnews.gov.za
