IEC steps up drive to obtain voter addresses
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has launched an online campaign as part of its drive to obtain addresses for the registered voters' roll.
The campaign was launched in Centurion on Wednesday and follows the 2016 Constitutional Court ruling which ordered the IEC to rectify the voters' roll.
The campaign aims to ensure all 26 million voters are able to register and confirm their addresses before the 2019 election.
"We are under no obligation to verify people's addresses. What the court implied was that the given address locates voters within the correct voting district and part of this online exercise is to do exactly that. When you have a full address captured on the system, when you confirm it, we are able to link it with GPS coordinates of the correct district," explained newly-appointed IEC CEO, Sy Mamabolo.
Mamabolo revealed that the IEC still needs to obtain the addresses of 3 million voters, while around 4 million need to furnish it with more details.
The IEC says talks with cell phone providers are open to the idea of reducing the cost of data to enable voters to use the service.
Plans are also in place to cater for voters without access to the internet.
"If the voters roll is questionable then all aspects of the election will suffer from its inadequacies and shortcomings. It is therefore vital for all stakeholders to meet the challenge we have of ensuring the voters roll is reliable, accurate and up to date. The integrity of all future elections depend on this," said IEC deputy chairperson Terry Tselane.