The fairness of the August 3 local government elections hangs in the balance as the Independent Electoral Commission does not have the addresses of more than half of the 25million registered voters. This has raised concerns that there might be vote-rigging because voters whose addresses are not registered with the IEC could be bused into highly contested areas to swing the result.There is a possibility that the 16 million voters who have not given an address or "generic address" will be struck from the voters' roll.On Thursday the IEC sent SMSes to 5.3million voters asking them to provide address details to a registration station at the weekend. The commission said it did not have the cellphone numbers of another 8 million citizens for whom it did not have a complete address. It plans to reach them through radio adverts.Any of the 16 million voters whose address has not been captured by the IEC can submit it to their local IEC office in the next few weeks."This can be done until the voters' roll is closed in a few weeks," said IEC spokesman Kate Bapela.She could not give the exact date."It's absolutely the most unsatisfactory situation since free and fair elections started in 1994," said political analyst Daniel Silke. "This is highly dangerous for our democracy."I think it is remarkably deficient of the IEC that we are discussing this four months before a local government election."The concern over voters' addresses arose after by-elections in Tlokwe, in North West, were postponed following a court challenge by independent candidates last year. They argued that voters whose addresses were not verified could have been brought into the ward to swing the result.In November the Constitutional Court ruled that the Tlokwe by-elections had not been free and fair. It ruled that voters' addresses were essential to ensure that voters were registered in the correct voting district.The IEC has asked the court to clarify whether the addresses of all 25million voters must be captured or only those who registered to vote after the November judgment."The time frame is not sufficient [if all addresses must be verified]," said IEC chairman Glen Mashinini."But if the court says 'No, that's not possible', then the implication is that the chief electoral officer will have to deregister the people whose details do not comply," he told Business Day.The Constitutional Court will rule on the IEC's appeal on May 9.Tim Truluck, the ward councillor of an area that includes the Johannesburg suburbs of Rosebank and Parkhurst, last week urged residents to respond to the IEC's SMSes in which they were asked for proof of their addresses.He said if the residents did not respond this would allow candidates to object to the inclusion of their votes.Anyone could argue at the IEC or in the courts that a vote was fraudulent because the voter would not be able to prove that he voted in the ward in which he lived, Truluck said."It opens up a possibility of a myriad of disputes from political parties, independent candidates. and even voters," said Silke.He warned that unless all major political parties came together to find compromises on the addresses issue there was a danger that the election would be disputed.He said this was worrying because the August elections were expected to be fiercely contested...