Mandatory voting in South Africa? Minister highlights Constitutional hurdles

Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said legislative reforms to compel all citizens to participate in elections would require careful examination of the Constitution and necessitate a broad national policy discussion.

Schreiber was responding to parliamentary questions from MK Party MP Andile Mngxitama, who asked if he will consider implementing legislative reform to compel all citizens to participate in elections.

Mngxitama said he noted that the rate of voter participation in elections was dwindling in the country, threatening the legitimacy of electoral outcomes, whilst voting is a civic duty.

His parliamentary question came amid the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) observing about a month ago that the upcoming local government elections will be conducted in the most challenging and tough pre-electoral climate over the last 30 years.

The IEC commissioned survey and research that had been conducted between October 2025 and February 2026.

The outcomes told the electoral body that there was widespread disillusionment with political leadership, decline in confidence in core political institutions and dissatisfaction with the way democracy is functioning.

In June, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Mashego Sheburi said were the elections to be held imminently, the intention to vote will decline from 76% recorded in 2015 to 64%.

“This is not automatic. It is positive if certain things are done and people feel there is a level of responsiveness and political contestants are concerned with issues that concern them,” he told MPs at the time.

The IEC will be holding the last voter registration weekend on August 1 and 2 and the voters’ roll will close once the November 4 local government elections is gazetted.

The total number of registered voters was 28.5 million as at June 22.

Responding to Mngxitama, Schreiber said South Africa’s constitutional edifice is predicated on among others, human dignity and freedom.

He also said the Bill of Rights enjoined the state to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights as contained in the Constitution.

“One of the fundamental rights accorded to citizens is freedom to make political choices. This right is guaranteed and provided for in section 19 of the Constitution.”

However, Schreiber said the current legislative framework, which is grounded on the freedom of political choices, accorded to the constitutional order.

“Legislative reform to compel all citizens to participate in elections would require careful examination of the constitutional framework and necessitate a broad national policy discussion,” he said.

Schreiber’s response comes at a time when EFF leader Julius Malema has submitted a notice in Parliament to introduce a bill aimed at increasing voter turnout, reducing the number of unregistered voters and decreasing the cost of awareness drives.

According to the summary of the draft bill, the current Electoral Act permitted voter registration from the age of 16 and the registration remained a voluntary process dependent on individual initiative and the IEC having to organise voter registration drives.

“This has led to large-scale exclusion, particularly of young people. A steady and troubling decline in voter turnout is compounded by low levels of registration and high levels of migration,” said Malema.

He also said the IEC has held registration weekends, awareness campaigns, and digital registration platforms, which were costly and insufficient.

“The Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, therefore, seeks to shift the burden of registration from individual initiative to the state, using existing population data to ensure inclusion through automated voter registration (AVR).”

Malema said countries with AVR processes have shown higher levels of registration completeness, improved equity in voter rolls, and greater participation among typically under-represented groups, such as youth and the poor.

“South Africa, with its advanced civil registration and identity systems, is well-placed to adopt this reform.”

The AVR process, Malema said, will include compiling and maintaining a database to which information from the population register is transferred with the use of technology.

[email protected]