Confusion and concern over missing voter addresses from roll
The Independent Electoral Commission says it is urgently investigating why some registered voters' addresses have disappeared from its system.
Many KZN residents, some of whom have lived in the same area and voted at the same station for years for years, say they were surprised and disturbed to find their addresses missing from the voters' roll.
One Umhlanga voter says during the March voter registration weekend, everything was fine when she checked her details.
But when she decided to re-check yesterday her address had vanished.
Another Hillcrest woman has told Newswatch she received a message from the IEC saying they do not have her address.
When she went to check, she found there was a problem with the address details of two other members of her family.
"I just find it surprising because I had voted before. The two [family members] had different addresses to what they had before, without physically having changed their addresses. My address is blank and the fourth person [family member] has the right address," she said.
Some of the complainants, one who had voted in the same area for 18 years and another for 38 years, say they had to go and re-register at their local voting stations after finding out their addresses did not appear on the roll.
The Independent Electoral Commission's Kate Bapela says they are trying to sort it out.
"The IEC is definitely going to look into the matter just to make sure that we are aligning our system properly. We will not just leave and assume it is just this way or the other. We will look into it and then follow up with those particular voting stations," she said.
Bapela is urging people to go out to voting stations today and make sure their addresses, as well as other personal details, are correct and get re-registered if there is a problem.
The IEC also has an sms service where you can check if they have your address.
Find out if we have your address – SMS ID number only to 32810 (R1/SMS). You will get 2 responses confirming voting station & yr address.
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) April 10, 2016
Got an SMS to say the IEC doesn't have an address for you? Please visit your voting station today 8am–5pm to update your details.
— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) April 10, 2016
In February, the Electoral Court ordered that by-elections in Tlokwe in the North West province could not go ahead after independent candidates approached at the last minute, seeking a postponement on the basis that more than 4000 voters' addressed were missing from the voters' roll.
The IEC has since postponed all by-elections in the country.
Have you also been affected? Let us know which area you are in. E-mail us here or leave a comment on @ecr_newswatch or on our Facebook page.