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It’s voter registration weekend, and political parties can’t shut up about it
Political parties swapped megaphones for Twitter this week in the wake of the final IEC South Africa voter registration weekend.
Between 26-27 January 2019, you can register to vote for the political party of your choice in the upcoming national elections, which still doesn’t have a confirmed date.
If you didn’t yet know this, you probably haven’t logged in to Twitter this week.
Parties are, in their unique ways, are reminding South African citizens that voting is a right, and that they should totally exercise that right to vote for them.
The EFF kicked off Friday morning with a lengthy Q&A thread, which is actually rather useful if you have a moment.
While the DA leader Mmusi Maimane trips to the Northern Cape, the rest of his party took up posters and intersections of choice.
The Western Cape Premier candidate Alan Winde took to Stellenbosch in a pro-party bomber jacket.
While Nqaba Bhanga, Winde’s similarly dressed Eastern Cape counterpart, took to Twitter.
#ThumaMina and #GrowSouthAfrica were the ANC’s calls, referencing the heydays of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s SONA 2018 and the party’s recent manifesto launch.
While its leader and SA President was in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, the party’s social media manager felt it necessary to tell followers about its “period of cleansing”.
It added #GrowSouthAfrica and #RegisterToVote in almost every one of its tweets within the past five days.
Even Vryheidsfront Plus supporters couldn’t hide from the “registreer” tweets with its #NouofNooit campaign.
What if I’m not registered though?
Oh, well, there’s a simple solution to that.
If you’ve made it this far into the article, you probably didn’t know that voter registration weekend is 26-27 January.
If you’re a first time voter, you’ll have to physically visit your local voting station between 8am and 5pm on those days.
“You only need a green, barcoded South African ID book, smart ID card, or valid Temporary Identity Certificate (TIC)” to register, the IEC notes on its website. We’d suggest taking a pen along, too.
If you’ve registered before but can’t remember if you’re still registered, discover your status on the IEC website.
And finally, if you know you’re registered but have moved away from your previous voting district, you can confirm your address online via the IEC website. You will however need to create a free IEC Portal account.
Happy registration!
Feature image: screenshot, IEC South Africa
