The Electoral Commission (IEC) has urged eligible South Africans not to wait until the last minute to register or update their voting details after the final voter registration weekend got off to what it described as a strong start across the country.
More than 99% of the country’s 23 699 voting stations opened on time on Saturday morning, with the commission describing the process as smooth as South Africa moves closer to the 2026 Local Government Elections.
By midday, the IEC had already recorded more than 238 000 voter interactions across voting stations and its online registration portal.
The majority of those transactions involved registered voters updating their details to ensure they are correctly registered ahead of the elections, while approximately 30 000, or 13.4%, were new voter registrations.
The commission said 198 232 transactions were recorded at voting stations, while a further 20 078 were processed through its free online voter registration portal.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest level of voter activity with 55 759 transactions, followed by the Eastern Cape (46 889) and Gauteng (41 774).
Other provinces also recorded steady activity, with Limpopo registering 29 680 transactions, followed by the Western Cape (19 693), Mpumalanga (17 218), North West (15 610), the Free State (13 110) and the Northern Cape (6 213).
The IEC said the figures were broadly in line with historical voting registration patterns and reflected the population size of the respective provinces.
The commission reminded South Africans that this weekend marks the final opportunity to register or update their details at voting stations before the local government elections.
“The Electoral Commission reminds eligible voters that they will not have another convenience of voting station-based registration,” it said.
Voting stations will remain open until 5pm on Saturday before reopening at 8am on Sunday.
While online registration will remain available until the election is officially proclaimed, the IEC warned that the increased demand had resulted in slower response times on its data-free registration platform.
Users experiencing delays were encouraged to try again later or visit their nearest voting station.
The commission also encouraged registered voters to verify their registration details online, through the IEC mobile application or by contacting its call centre, saying early verification would help avoid congestion closer to the proclamation of the election date.
