local elections

According to the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) survey, rural South Africans think their councillors are corrupt, ineffective and unresponsive.
 
The survey found that about 70 percent of people polled in rural areas of four provinces said councillors are not doing a good job and municipalities did not provide a good service.
 

Prospective RDP housing beneficiaries in Donkerhoek and Jabulane farms outside Piet Retief, who have waited more than a year to have their houses completed, have threatened not to vote in the coming local elections.
 
Nurse Motha, one of the beneficiaries living in Donkerhoek, has been quoted as saying that, "This government is playing with us. Since they dug foundations for RDP houses more than a year ago they have not come back to us."
 

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has approved and gazetted the electoral timetable in Pretoria.

The timetable details the electoral process for the countdown to May 18, is legally binding on all participants in the elections.
In the same, IEC chief executive, Pansy Tlakula, says voters living in the eight metropolitan councils will get two ballot papers.

Tlakula says voters will vote for the ward candidate of their choice and the second vote would be for the party.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says the number of people on the voters roll stands at 23.6 million, with final verification expected to take place in the next few days.

IEC chairperson, Brigalia Bam, says even though they were targeting 24 million voters for the upcoming local government elections, it is satisfied with 1.9 percent increase.

“Over the two registration weekends a total of 2,731,967 persons registered or re-registered as voters, apart from numerous others who verified their details on the voters roll,” she explains.

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) says more than 600 000 people visited voting stations on the first day of the final voter registration weekend.
 
IEC deputy chief electoral officer, Mosotho Moepya, says people visited the stations to either register as new voters, re-register if they had changed addresses or to inspect their details on the voters' roll.
 

According to a survey by TNS Research Surveys, violence over service delivery is ‘almost a certainty’ with more than 51 percent of metropolitan residents unhappy.
 
TNS Research Surveys director, Neil Higgs, points out that this figure is high and indicates that violence over a lack of service delivery is almost a certainty.