With just over a month before local government elections, KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube says the province is "all systems go".

"We can unequivocally state that it is all systems go as far as the state of readiness for the fourth democratic local government elections is concerned."

Speaking at a press briefing at the Cogta offices in Durban, Dube-Ncube said "a great deal of work" had gone into preparations.

She said that, despite a "few isolated issues" where the department intervened, the province was confident of a successful election.

Dube-Ncube added that during engagement with communities, the department had seen a record number of voters registered.

"Our main task is to translate the enthusiasm we witnessed during the voter registration process into a higher voter turnout on the voting day to ensure the legitimacy of representation in the new municipal governance structures after August 3."

Infrastructure in place

Dube-Ncube said KwaZulu-Natal had the highest number of voting stations in the country, with 4 794 identified.

"This presents us with a host of infrastructure challenges in terms of provision of water, electricity, unhindered access to roads and emergency services for all voting stations."

According to Dube-Ncube, her department was working closely with municipalities and the departments of education and transport to resolve outstanding infrastructure issues.

"For the election period, 711 voting stations will be provided with water, 103 voting stations will be furnished with sanitation and 692 voting stations will be equipped with temporary lighting."

She added that 339 voting stations required improvement because of the lack of access to roads and that they were in communication with the department of transport about this.