Over 45 000 visited Home Affairs offices

More than 45 000 South Africans visited Home Affairs offices over the final voter registration drive at the weekend.

Breaking down the numbers, the department said 25 799 collected smart ID cards, 13 467 applied for IDs, 4 410 collected green ID books, 1 583 applied for and received Temporary Identification Certificates while 106 duplicate ID cases were resolved.

On Tuesday, the department said this supported democracy.

“The response also underscores the importance of the partnerships the Department of Home Affairs has been able to strike with provincial and local government officials and structures to facilitate the collection of IDs."

Over 2 000 officials and senior managers were deployed across provinces to assist citizens.

Those citizens who are yet to collect or apply for smart ID cards will be able to use their old green ID books for identification purposes, including on elections day. 

On Tuesday, the Electoral Commission reported that over 700 000 new voters registered during the final registration weekend, bringing the total number of registered voters on the voters’ roll to 26 727 921