Johannesburg – The IEC was ready to conduct voter registration this weekend in all nine provinces, even in areas that had been identified as hotspots because of service delivery protests, chairperson Pansy Tlakula said on Wednesday.

She said this would not deter the IEC from doing its work.

“We have made arrangements, even in the areas you call hotspots, for registration to continue, because we cannot have a situation in this country of no-go areas.

“We are aware of very few areas in the country where there are some problems,” Tlakula said.

A total of 45 795 election officials would work to register new voters and verify existing registration details.

Voting districts had increased by 7% from the 20 859 districts for the 2011 local government elections.

“The growth reflects an expansion of voting districts in predominantly rural areas, with increases of 15% in the Free State, 10% in Limpopo and 9% each in the North West and KwaZulu-Natal, to reduce the distance required for voters to travel to voting stations,” Tlakula said.

The IEC leadership was working well together.

“We are happy people…. We are a team…. We’ve been working well over the months. The info we just gave you shows that, as a team, we are ready for the current registration and the elections,” she said.

Tlakula also said that less than half of eligible voters under the age of 30 are currently registered to vote.

Only 8.7% of eligible voters were aged between 18 and 19, compared to the average registration levels of over 90% for older age groups, Tlakula said.

– SAPA