The 2024 General Elections: Voting at the SA High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand
The SA High Commission in Wellington, New Zealand, opened its doors to registered South African voters from 7am to 9pm on 18 May 2024. The first arrivals at the Mission waited outside the premises from 6am. Ms P Moleko, acting High Commissioner and IEC Special Voting Officer welcomed the first group that had traveled all the way from Auckland, New Plymouth and the Bay of Plenty. The high turnout included voters from Wellington and its surrounding districts as well as voters from the South Island (Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown). It would be crucial to highlight that the turnout for the 2024 General elections in Wellington, exceeded the 2019 General elections.
Important takeaways for both the Mission/IEC and SA voters are the following for future reference:
- Voters must always confirm their voter registration status prior to the closing of the registration date.
- Voters to regularly follow key election developments and IEC updates on the IEC website and SA High Commission website: i.e. the type or form of identification approved by the Electoral Act. Nb. The Act provided for the use of smart ID, Green Barcoded ID & Temporary ID certificate as acceptable forms of identification for the purposes of voting in the 2024 General elections. Yet, some voters turn up with passports-which is no longer a required/acceptable form of identification;. Other voters were registered in SA and never updated their registration details to indicate Wellington as their new voting station.
In overall, the voting process at the SA High Commission in Wellington proceeded swiftly and smoothly without any major encumbrance on the people queuing to vote.
