Ramaphosa announces Municipal election date Photo: Timeslive
The president of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Wednesday announced that the local government elections will be held on Wednesday 27 October 2021. The president made this pronouncement in a statement issued by the government in, which he added that all those wishing to vote, particularly first-time voters, needed to ensure that they were registered to vote properly to avoid disappointments.
The statement added that the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs would follow the legal processes to proclaim the date and to undertake other legal requirements.
On the other hand, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has announced that it plans to introduce more advanced devices and technology during the municipal elections that will be held in October. The IEC is constitutionally tasked with overseeing and conducting all elections in the country.
The IEC said that they would introduce a revamped website and an app that would provide enhanced monitoring and communication during the polls. According to the commission, the changes it was planning to implement would be, among other things:
• To capture an address or place of residence during registration and to verify the address against ward boundaries.
• To serve as online real-time voters’ roll-on election day to further prevent multiple voting and to provide further demographic details of voter participation.
They added that they would also be introducing a public reporting app as a way of reducing the misinformation that is usually prevalent at times such as that in question. This follows on the last elections in which several people were apparently able to vote multiple times at different polling stations.
Meanwhile, announcing on its website, the IEC has reported that in the by-elections contested Wednesday 21 April 2021, the African National Congress (ANC) retained ten seats and won two seats over the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The IFP and DA both retained one seat.
