The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has issued a stern warning to voters to refrain from registering false addresses. Those who attempt to manipulate the voters roll before the local government elections will be prosecuted.
Addressing the media after a week-long stakeholder engagement in KwaZulu-Natal, IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya made it clear that the commission would investigate registration irregularities.
“Everyone must be warned,” Moepya said. “We investigated it … you have registered, you don’t know when you have registered and you have given an address where you don’t reside. If that happens, we’ll prosecute, that’s clear.”
The commission’s visit to KwaZulu-Natal comes as the 2026 Human Sciences Research Council’s voter participation survey (VPS) paints a concerning picture of the province’s democratic health.
It revealed that trust in the IEC had plummeted to just 20% in KwaZulu-Natal, significantly lower than the strained national average of 32%.
The decline in confidence is dramatic: satisfaction with democracy in the province has dropped from 54% in 2004 to a mere 6% in 2025.
“Support for democracy is no longer held by most citizens in the province,” Moepya said, citing “declining trust in key political institutions, growing political disengagement and rising voter disillusionment”.
Economic despair is a primary driver, with 88% of the province’s adults unhappy with current conditions and 60% reporting that life in their communities has worsened over the past five years.
Moepya struck back at political narratives that sought to cast doubt on the integrity of the results, emphasising that the commission did not have a “head start” on the data.
“Members of this commission, the CEO and his staff, don’t receive election results before you get them. We all get them at the same time from the same source,” he said. “There is no black box … There is no processing in the commission’s corner.”
He cautioned against those who “create doubts about results” for political gain, noting that winners and losers were a natural part of a tough contest.
Despite the trust deficit, the survey found that 76% of adults in KwaZulu-Natal say they would vote if an election was held imminently.
To prepare, the IEC has filled 9 268 of its 9 948 vacancies (93%) in the province and is subjecting its voter management devices to “rigorous stress testing”.
On the topic of electronic voting, Moepya remained cautious, noting that while the commission had researched it for 20 years, it would not be implemented for the sake of novelty.
“We don’t do electronic voting for the sake of it,” he said. “It must have a case … We’ve got to take time to build confidence in such a process.”
For now, the focus remained on the manual integrity of the roll. “Voters must ensure that they are registered where they live, as they will vote in the ward where they are registered,” he added.
IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya has emphasised that the commission will investigate registration irregularities
