Voter registration the past weekend seemed to have progressed fairly smoothly, albeit that the turnout was not wonderful.
The newspaper visited two voting stations, namely at Makhado Library and Masedi Combined School in Tshikota on Sunday (18th) to monitor the proceedings.
Very few new voters showed up to register at Makhado Library, while at Tshikota the ANC, DA and EFF had each set up camp a few metres away from the registration centre.
The political parties looked happy and prepared for the upcoming elections. They all seemed to be satisfied with how the day progressed at the Tshikota voting station. Some residents paid visits to their respective camps, while others disappeared into the voting centre to register.
Bessy Jones, DA PR councillor for Makhado Municipality, said that they were a little concerned that so few people had come out to register. "We are not sure why this is. It could be that the residents are unhappy with all the unsettled services delivery issues," she said.
Desiree van der Walt, DA Limpopo campaign manager for the elections, spoke about the voter registration in Vhembe District as a whole, "There were some glitches at some of the voting registration centres concerning voter-management devices (VDM), but the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) was prepared for this," van der Walt said. "We (DA) were also prepared with our own forms to monitor the IEC. Voters signed our forms as proof in case they do not appear on the voters' roll, come voting day. This would allow them to vote. Overall, the process went well."
Dunani Baloyi, the EFF Vhembe's regional secretary, also applauded the voter-registration process. "Though the registration was slow, maybe due to networks, the process went well. However, we are concerned that voters who might have left without registering on Saturday due to the slow process, did not come back again on Sunday, as some of them live far away," he said.
Huge Khosa from the Pan African Congress (PAC) of Azania also alluded that the process went well. "Though the process went well, the majority of voters are just so demoralised by the government, who have been making false promises since 1996. We did not see many voters coming out to register for the upcoming elections," said Khosa, who is Musina's sub-region elections coordinator for the PAC.