Number of enrolled voters increases by 21.3%: IEC

The number of people enrolled on the voters' roll has risen by 21.3% since it was first compiled, chief electoral officer Mosotho Moepya said on Wednesday.

"The South African voters' roll remains a fundamental contributor to the credibility of the country's elections," he said at the media launch for the 2014 elections in Midrand.

"It is regularly updated against the national population register [at least once a month]."

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had also maintained audit trails of all voters since the first voters' roll was compiled in 2008.

Moepya said the IEC had consistently attained registration of 80% of the voting age population.

Following the release of the 2011 census, the IEC had established a potential registration gap of about 8.3 million.

"This census data places our current registered voting age population at 73.6%.

"In keeping with our trend of maintaining the voting age population in the 80% region, it is clear that our registration efforts will be targeting 2 006 229 new registered voters," he said.

Earlier, IEC chairwoman Pansy Tlakula announced that registration for next year's election would take place on November 9 and 10.

"All our voting stations in the country will be open for the purposes of voter registration from 8am to 5pm," she said.

"The commission invites all eligible citizens who are not yet registered as voters to use this opportunity to join the millions of South Africans who are already on the national voters' roll."

Tlakula urged young people, especially those who would be voting for the first time, to register.

Next year, South Africa celebrates 20 years of democracy.

Tlakula said the current youth were a special generation -- the first to be born in a democratic country.

"Democracy and freedom came at a great price and cannot be taken for granted," she said.

"We should therefore treasure and use the opportunity to exercise this right."