The People Have Answered
The conclusion of the 2026 voter registration programme marks an important step on the road to the local government elections of 4 November. Over a single weekend the Eastern Cape recorded 313,797 registrations, of which 79,417 were young people registering for the first time. Nelson Mandela Bay, our region, led the province, adding 5,087 new voters, the highest number of any municipality.
Every name on this register has a face. The elder in KwaNobuhle who came to the table leaning on her walking stick. The student at Nelson Mandela University (NMU) who arrived with her whole residence corridor behind her, and the TVET apprentice who registered at the campus gate between lectures. The worker in Kariega who signed the roll between shifts. The families of Walmer and Booysens Park who opened their doors after dark. Their registration is not politeness; it is an instruction: the movement must now earn, on 4 November, the confidence they have already shown.
This outcome was earned, not gifted. Across all six clusters, renewal faced the people directly: deployees staffing information tables, branch executives accounting for every voting district, ward task teams on the street corners, the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) on the campuses and the ANC Women's League at the doorsteps of our elders, coffee in one hand, registration form in the other. The movement did not wait to be summoned by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). We carried the campaign to the people.
This special edition of The People's Register stands as both a record of that effort and a statement of the task before us. Registration is the foundation; the work of mobilisation and persuasion now begins in earnest. Our candidates are ready. On 23 August 2026, at the national launch of the ANC Election Manifesto, the President of the ANC, Comrade Cyril Ramaphosa, will table the programme to which we shall hold ourselves accountable.
In this, the Year of Decisive Action to Fix Local Government and Transform the Economy, our target is a governing majority of 61+ seats, under a single line of executive accountability to the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.
Across South Africa, the two registration weekends of June and August added 754,332 new voters to the national roll, taking the total beyond 29 million. In the Eastern Cape, 313,797 registrations were recorded on the final weekend alone, 79,417 of them new youth registrations. Young people aged 16 to 29 accounted for nearly half of all brand-new registrations nationally, a clear signal of the generation now coming into the franchise.
Molly Blackburn Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Molly Blackburn dedicated her life to opposing apartheid injustice in the Eastern Cape, using her seat in the Cape Provincial Council to force state brutality into the official record. Her name reminds us that our movement is non-racial and broad-based, serving every resident of Nelson Mandela Bay, from Walmer Township to Summerstrand.
Cluster 1 spans established suburbs and growing urban communities, meeting students at their residences, commuters on their routes and families at their homes.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
Campus drives at Nelson Mandela University and the Port Elizabeth TVET College brought hundreds of first-time voters onto the roll. Deputy Regional Secretary Cde Nontombi Nama led the team at the Ward 5 TVET station. In Ward 39, Ward Candidate Cde Tanya Stephens and campaign teams covered the Sherwood Voting District (VD).
Youth & Campus Mobilisation
The young volunteers of this cluster produced TikTok content during field operations that drew national attention. NEC Convener Comrade Mmamoloko Kubayi commended the initiative and requested the videos for the movement's national platforms. It is an encouraging sign of renewal that the generation which inherited democracy is now choosing to defend it at the ballot.
At the Russell Road Campus VD, councillor candidates and student activists worked side by side at the registration stations. Their example is helping to draw a new generation of South Africans onto the roll.
They registered themselves. Then they registered their friends. Across NMU and the TVET colleges, the young people of the Molly Blackburn Cluster stopped waiting for the campaign to come to them and carried the campaign themselves. Freedom was handed to them. They are choosing to hand it forward.
Lilian Diedericks Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Lilian Diedericks was a Port Elizabeth trade unionist and a founding member of the Federation of South African Women, who stood among the leaders of the 1956 Women's March on the Union Buildings. Tried for treason and banned by the apartheid state, her legacy lives in the working-class communities of Gelvandale and the Northern Areas.
Cluster 2 is the Northern Areas, the heart of working-class Nelson Mandela Bay. Door-to-door teams moved through every street to assist residents with address verification, registration updates and their questions about delivery.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
Ward 39 delivered one of the drive's defining moments at the Sherwood Voting District, where Ward Candidate Cde Tanya Stephens and BET Coordinator Cde Patrick Brennan worked shoulder to shoulder with Cde Isla Williams. Registration assistance, address verification and doorstep conversations ran the length of the weekend. Every voting district was covered.
Govan Mbeki Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Govan Mbeki was a veteran strategist and intellectual who organised industrial and township workers and built an impenetrable ANC stronghold in Port Elizabeth. This is where the ANC's ideological foundation is deepest, and where the movement has always drawn its greatest strength.
Cluster 3 consistently achieved some of the best registration results across the entire metro, a living return on decades of rooted organisation.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
Regional Chairperson Cde Babalwa Lobishe led a door-to-door campaign in Ward 16, New Brighton, alongside ANCYL Regional Task Team (RTT) members Comrades Akhona Kethani, Amyoli Resha and Ntombozuko Xipu. Senior leadership and branch volunteers moved as one team through every voting district.
Ward 17 & Campus Coffee Drives
The most patient work of the weekend was done at the doorsteps of our elders. Home visits in Lundini VD paired younger volunteers with senior residents, completing verification forms face to face and treating every registration as an act of respect. It was service first, without agenda, done quietly and without reward, in the way the movement has always understood that our duty is to those we serve.
Champion Galela Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Champion Galela was a civic leader of the Port Elizabeth Black Civic Organisation and a member of the PEBCO Three, who sacrificed his life fighting for civic rights and democratic representation. Abducted and murdered by the security police in 1985, his spirit rests in Zwide, in the soil of the community he died to liberate.
Cluster 4 is working-class Zwide and the industrial belt of Kariega and Despatch. Our teams met factory workers, shift personnel and residents of informal settlements where they live and work.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
Teams focused on shift workers, informal settlements and residential areas across the industrial corridor, ensuring complete voter coverage and consistent visible presence along major transport routes.
Service to the Residents
The Champion Galela Cluster covers working-class Zwide and the industrial belt of Kariega and Despatch. From the door-to-door outreach in Bayland to the registration that followed a comrade's funeral, our teams served residents where they live and work, and the community responded in kind.
Alex Matikinca Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Alex Matikinca was a grassroots activist and education advocate from Motherwell who championed equal access to schooling, youth empowerment and community development. His legacy lives on through the annual Alex Matikinca Reading Competition.
Cluster 5 sits at the centre of the region's future. The Coega Special Economic Zone is transforming the area into an automotive, manufacturing and export hub, with a proposed R2-billion investment by the Sailun Group set to create thousands of industrial jobs.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
NEC Convener Cde Mmamoloko Kubayi and Regional Secretary Cde Siphiwo Tshaka worked together at the Agape Voting Station in Ward 60. NEC Member Cde Andile Lungisa joined REC Member Cde Yolisa Pali-Jongilanga at ANC information tables in Ward 59. Motherwell is a young, growing community, and it is where the future of the region is taking shape.
Ward 59 Operations & Logistics
Motherwell: A Strategic Priority
Motherwell's dense population makes Wards 53-60 a critical pillar for regional success. High-profile leadership deployments ensured that information tables operated at full capacity throughout the weekend.
The Road to 4 November
Registration applications have now closed. The Electoral Commission has confirmed that voter registration for the 2026 Local Government Elections is closed. For current election information and official notices, visit elections.org.za or call 0800 11 8000. Election day is Wednesday, 4 November 2026.
Zola Nqini Cluster
The Legacy That Guides Us
Zola Nqini was an Umkhonto we Sizwe commander and diplomat who chose the ANC when he could have chosen comfort. He was imprisoned on Robben Island, banned and exiled, and killed in the 1982 Maseru raid. A statue in his honour stands in Kariega.
Cluster 6 covers the industrial manufacturing belt and peri-urban areas of KwaNobuhle. Mobile teams operated throughout the weekend to ensure residents in outlying sectors were fully registered.
On the Ground: What We Delivered
Field reports were received from the Mgcunube VD in Ward 46 and the R H Godlo and Vuba VDs in Ward 47. The response of the industrial working class to the registration drive speaks to the strength of the movement in this cluster.
Voter Registration Metrics
| Regional Cluster | Wards Covered | Field Focus | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Molly Blackburn | 1-9, 12, 39, 40 | NMU & TVET campuses; Sherwood VD | 100% |
| 2. Lilian Diedericks | 10, 11, 13, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38 | Booysens Park & George Botha door-to-door | 100% |
| 3. Govan Mbeki | 14-22, 24 | New Brighton & KwaZakhele outreach | 100% |
| 4. Champion Galela | 24-28, 30, 33, 36, 41 | Kariega & Despatch industrial drive | 100% |
| 5. Alex Matikinca | 23, 53-60 | Motherwell & Coega info tables | 100% |
| 6. Zola Nqini | 42-52 | KwaNobuhle outer ring mobilisation | 100% |
| REGIONAL TOTAL | 60 Wards | Six Clusters Mobilised | FULL COVERAGE |
From Ground Mobilisation to Electoral Victory
The people before us are the measure of what disciplined organisation can achieve. Every registration represents a comrade who has taken their place in the democratic process, and every door knocked and every conversation held has strengthened the movement's standing among the people of Nelson Mandela Bay.
The work of renewal does not end at the registration station. Our people have registered; our task now is to earn their vote on 4 November, and to govern in a manner worthy of their trust.