South Africa is betting on WhatsApp to bring Gen Z back to the ballot box

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Sy Mamabolo, IEC Chief Electoral Officer, said the commission chose WhatsApp because it is already part of many South Africans’ daily lives. IEC Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo says the commission’s new WhatsApp registration service is designed to make voter registration more accessible. “Online registration has been successful, and the latest addition is the WhatsApp registration service.” During the final voter registration weekend, South Africans completed 1.7 million registration-related transactions, including 291,016 first-time registrations, with the online registration portal accounting for 238,000 transactions. WhatsApp may help the IEC register more young South Africans.