• The IEC has said that 2024 has the highest number of registered voters since the dawn of democracy in South Africa.
• 29.79 million South Africans are now on the voters’ roll ahead of the 29th May general elections this year.
• The voters’ roll will be published to IEC offices and to political parties ahead of elections.

The voters’ roll for the upcoming 2024 general elections contains the highest number of registered voters since it was compiled in 1999, according to Chief Electoral Officer of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), Sy Mamabolo.

To put it into a wider perspective, as per SA News, the IEC says that the 27.79 million registered voters on its electronic roll will be the highest number of voters since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, an expected result ahead of the 29th May elections – considered by many the most important elections the country has seen since 1994.

According to the IEC, the voters’ roll will be certified on Tuesday by Mamabolo. It will then be published and given to the IEC’s head office, offices of the commission in the nine provinces, and all the municipal offices of the commission in the republic ahead of the elections.

Digital copies of the roll, containing redacted ID numbers to ensure PoPIA compliance, will then be disbursed to all the parties and independent candidates that will be contesting in the elections. According to Mamabolo, Gauteng is still the province with the most registered voters.

“The provincial breakdown of the registered voters indicate that Gauteng remains the biggest voting block, followed by the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, respectively,” he shared.

“The highlight of the certified roll is the increase in the rate of representation by persons in the age cohort 18 – 39 years. This age band accounts for 42% (or 11. 7 million) voters on the voters’ roll.”

Mamabolo also explained that the introduction of the online self-service voter registration system aided the IEC in finding younger voters to register.

“The introduction of the online self-service voter registration modality has contributed to the increased rate of registration by younger voters in the country, as well as by citizens who are resident outside of the Republic,” he said.

In November last year, the IEC had already seen over 100 000 online registrations, with 40 000 seen on a single day during a Voter Registration Weekend event.

Ahead of the elections, social media firms like TikTok and Meta, as well as Google pledged to the IEC that they will work towards fighting fake news and maintaining community integrity. However, X did not make such a pledge and is used extensively by political parties for campaigning.