1 Hoping to lead by example, the top African National Congress official in the Johannesburg area came to this black township Monday to register to vote in local elections later this year.
2 But Tokyo Sexwale, premier of the Gauteng provincial government, found no one waiting to follow him.
3 Instead of lines of would-be voters, there were only stacks of blank registration forms and a row of idle clerks at the Alexandra community center.
4 'I am very worried that people are not registering in the hundreds, in the thousands,' Sexwale said after presenting identification and filling out his form.
5 Following the nation's first all-race election last April, which chose governments at the national and provincial levels, the voting scheduled for October would bring multiracial democracy to South African cities and villages.
6 A 90-day registration period began Jan. 27 for an estimated 23 million potential voters. Response has so far been sluggish, leading to calls for extending the April 26 deadline.
7 Officials said about 32,000 people had registered out of an estimated 2 million eligible voters in a new municipality in the northern Johannesburg area that will include Alexandra and white communities like wealthy Sandton.
8 'These are elections about communities,' Sexwale said. 'For the first time, power is going to the people.'
9 Instead of having officials appointed by whites making decisions about building houses, schools and sewers, blacks will be able to turn to politicians they elected.
10 But the local elections have failed so far to capture the imaginations of ordinary South Africans.
11 A study commissioned by Project Vote, an educational organization active in election preparations last year, showed black South Africans were unconvinced their participation would make a difference, and many were unaware the vote had been scheduled.
12 W. Raluthanda's barber shop was in sight of the Alexandra community center plastered with warnings in the Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho and Afrikaans languages: '90 days only! Register by 26 April to vote in October.' But Raluthanda said the signs meant little to him because he doesn't understand exactly what he would be voting for.
13 'They didn't give me the idea it was a government,' he said.

" I am very worried that people are not registering in the hundreds , in the thousands , " Sexwale said after presenting identification and filling out his form .
very worried
Why is he worried that people are not registering in large numbers?