JOHANNESBURG - The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is urging all eligible voters to register this weekend.
Only 28 million out of the country’s 38 million eligible voters are registered. It's a slight increase from 27.7 million during the 2024 national and provincial elections.
More than 48,000 staff have been trained to run the voter registration effort this weekend.
The IEC’s database now lists 550 registered political parties.
READ | Everything you need to know about this weekend's voter registration drive
Masego Sheburi, deputy chief Electoral Officer said a growing number of South Africans are turning their backs on democracy, with disillusionment over unmet promises and a lack of interest.
"From the data at our disposals from surveys we have done over a number of times, one of the factors that militate citizens from participating is disillusionment. In their perspective, people feel that over time democracy has not yielded dividends which they thought it will yield."
Sheburi said the IEC was running a youth focused campaign to target young people who have had disproportionately fewer opportunities to register and vote.
"We are making facilities for many South Africans as are possible to register on the voters roll with confidence."