IEC monitors storm damage, crime ahead of voter registration weekend

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in the Western Cape says its 1623 voting stations are prepared for this voter registration weekend.

This comes over a month after the province has experienced adverse weather conditions, which affected roads, bridges and transport access infrastructure.

Ongoing gang violence has also come under the spotlight.

The IEC in the Western Cape says it is working closely with Community Policing Forums and the South African Police Service (SAPS), which will assist them with making safety determinations on a continuous basis.

The IEC in the N.Cape says it’s concerned about the low number of young people on the voters roll. During a press conference ahead of the registration weekend, the election body urged young people, especially first-time voters – to register for Nov polls. #SABCNews pic.twitter.com/3eVmjrG3W0

— Ulrich Hendriks (@UlrichHendriks) June 19, 2026

“In our province, we have 36 temporary stations, simply because there are no suitable venues available. But linked to that is also the fact that we’ve had a lot of adverse weather that impacted our communities across the province, and we are closely monitoring that because some of our stations are in deep rural areas where the access roads may be blocked off, and sometimes it literally doesn’t exist any more, so we’re continuously monitoring.  We’re working closely with our provincial disaster, local disaster management and SAPS,” says Western Cape Provincial Electoral Officer, Michael Hendrickse.

Hendrickse spells out the IEC’s considerations on the matter of gang-related violent crime.

“When it comes to gang violence, specifically violent crime, our country and this province aren’t immune to the scourge that plays throughout society. We work very closely with the South African Police Service, the local law enforcement, and we’re even in engagements with the CPFs so we can ensure that our voting stations, people can come to our voting stations safely, actually come and register and walk home again safely,” says Hendrickse.

A formal Proof of Address is no longer a consideration.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has called on eligible citizens to register, verify, or update their details ahead of the elections scheduled for November pic.twitter.com/V2OFvupQ8l

— SABC News (@SABCNews) June 19, 2026

“We have 1622 voting stations across the province, and they’re open from 08:00 am tomorrow until 17:00 as well as on Sunday. All the voter needs to bring is their ID document, which could be their smart card or green barcoded ID book, or it could be a temporary identity certificate issued by the Department of Home Affairs. We, however, stress that it has to be original documents; we cannot use copies. We do not require the voter to come with proof of Address. Many of our voters simply do not have a lease agreement or a formal address for that matter, so all we require is for the voter to come to our voting station, give us their address or point out on the map, and we will then place them in the correct voting district,” he adds.

Hendrickse emphasises the importance of ensuring that voters are registered where it is convenient for them.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it has successfully delivered all essential voter registration materials to voting stations across all nine provinces ahead of this weekend’s voter registration drive for the 2026 local government elections.… pic.twitter.com/WkpYXhwolX

— SABC News (@SABCNews) June 19, 2026

“This is Local Government Elections, you cannot vote anywhere else other than the voting station where you are registered. Please make use of this opportunity to register or re-register. If you missed the chance to come to our station, our voting portal on www-dot-elections-dot-org is open 24/7, and it’s a very quick and easy process to do it, it’s between 3-5 minutes. Otherwise, during the week, our local IEC offices are also open,” says Hendrickse.

While President Ramaphosa has announced November 4th as the election day, voters will have until the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ official proclamation of the election day to continue registering.

VIDEO | LGE 2026 | IEC in the Western Cape on state of readiness ahead of Voter Registration Weekend