Registration Sunday going smoothly: IEC

Day two of the voter registration process was running smoothly, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said on Sunday.

"The process is going well. Being a Sunday, we are trying to motivate and make sure people go to stations," said spokeswoman Kate Bapela.

The turnout at voting stations across the country on Saturday and Sunday was good, but the commission wanted more people to register for the 2014 general election.

"The turn-out so far has been very successful, but we can do with more. We want the figures to go up," said Bapela.

She said there was a good mixture of young and old people registering.

Registration centres were open from 8am and would close at 5pm.

The IEC said a total of 22,263 stations were open.

On Saturday, chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya said sporadic protests had affected the registration process in some areas including Bekkersdal in Gauteng, Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape, Malamulele in Limpopo, and the Joe Morolong municipality in the Northern Cape.

Bapela said the commission was "studying" the environment where voter registration was taking place.

"We are allowing the process to simmer... and we will comment later."

SABC radio earlier reported that the IEC was confident that voter registration would proceed peacefully in the Eastern Cape on Sunday after dozens of stations in the province were non-operational on day one.

This was due to protests and problems in Sterkspruit, Port St Johns and Cookhouse.

Provincial electoral officer Thami Mraji reportedly told the broadcaster almost all stations were open by Saturday afternoon. He said the IEC was working with the police to ensure staff were not intimidated.