Expat votes: Too late for some

12/03/2009 11:17
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Voting (Shayne Robinson, Sapa)

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Johannesburg - The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that registered voters living overseas can vote for the national assembly in the April 22 elections, but those who have not yet registered will not be allowed to vote.

Those who can vote must notify the chief electoral officer of their intention to vote by March 27, the court ordered.

Handing down the first of two separate judgments Justice Kate O'Regan said the right to vote had a symbolic and democratic value and those who were registered should not be limited by unconstitutional and invalid limitations in the Electoral Act.

However, a second judgment by Justice Sandile Ngcobo found that unregistered voters overseas could not vote.

The limitations had been in effect since 2003 and the applicants had not explained why they had left the challenge so late.

Two judgments

He explained that the effect of the two judgments is: "South African citizens abroad and who are registered as voters will be allowed to vote. Those who are not registered will not."

This follows an application by the Freedom Front Plus on behalf of a Pretoria school teacher working in the UK, as well as representation by the Inkatha Freedom Party, the Democratic Alliance, the A-Party, a lobby group, and an independent group of South Africans living overseas.

They had argued that it is their constitutional right to vote and that limitations in the Electoral Act which meant they did not fall into the certain categories allowed to vote, were unfair.

A judgment in favour of the teacher, Willem Richter, in the Pretoria High court in February ordered that the minister of home affairs and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) extend the right to special votes to all categories of registered voters who are away from South Africa.

The IEC had to amend the Election Regulations accordingly.

Following that judgment the second judgment began, which relates to being able to register for the vote overseas.

- SAPA

Comment on this story

Rolene Green 12/03/2009 11:28 Comment 1
A huge wonderful THANK YOU to all those who made this possible for us!! This is certainly a very positive step forward!
Cilliers 12/03/2009 11:32 Comment 2
Mooi so, Willie Spies en jou span! Ek hoop almal wat oorsee gaan stem, sal vir julle stem, want julle het opgestaan vir hulle regte.
Jacques 12/03/2009 11:34 Comment 3
This is good news!To find out if you are registared the IEC website is a good place to start.
mikeh 12/03/2009 11:34 Comment 4
Amazing how hard some are trying to find reasons for ex pats NOT to vote. Seems this country will be in the mire for a long time to come!
AJ 12/03/2009 11:35 Comment 5
The reason why some overseas have not registered is because they knew that could not vite in any case at the time, so what was the point. not allowing expats to register now is the same as deenying most of them the vote in any case. Why would you register for something you know you are not permitted to do and if you did try and register what would the overseas enbassy do, knowing full well that they were not eligible for the past years?
robert barrie 12/03/2009 11:36 Comment 6
This clearly demonstrate that the ANC government as well IEC do not care for citizens of this country, whihc had to go to the highest court to claim that right
Juan 12/03/2009 11:38 Comment 7
Scary how the anc wanted to rape the constitution yet again!! Should the ruling party not PROTECT the constitution?!!?!?
CMP 12/03/2009 11:39 Comment 8
I think it is amazing, I can understand why they won't allow non registered voters to vote in the forthcoming election, but perhaps this will lay the ground work for future elections where Ex pats voerseas can register and vote in 2014.
Boetie 12/03/2009 11:40 Comment 9
I am registered in the PTA, now working in the Middle East, can I vote
Wikus 12/03/2009 11:40 Comment 10
Were expats even able to register to vote? The two judgments seems kind of contradicting. Why would expats even have registered(if they were allowed to) if they knew they wouldn't have been able to vote?
zimbili 12/03/2009 11:41 Comment 11
again this is a challenge of our constitutional democracy how on earth do you protect the rights of all these right wing groups who hated mandela and went abroad to allign themselves with other right wingers .They abondoned their duty and responsibility to build the country post apartheid
over the moon 12/03/2009 11:42 Comment 12
We all new that would happen, they new we hadn't registered because at the time we were not allowed to vote. why register if you cant vote? one rulling without the other makes no sence at all. Clever move ANC
Keith 12/03/2009 11:43 Comment 13
If prisoners, many of which are murdering, raping scum bags, get to vote. They don't pay taxes. It is a fair call to allow expats to vote, it is their right!
Nigel 12/03/2009 11:44 Comment 14
The ANC's attitude to the expact vote is just more of the same...they will go to any length to scare\intimidate\frustrate opposition votes, no matter how dirty they have to play...this is a sign of things to come, be afraid, be very afraid (of the ANC & THIER SUPPORTERS)
Ralph 12/03/2009 11:46 Comment 15
You can check you voting status (can / can't vote) here : https://www.elections.org.za/amregister/amregister.aspx
Chris 12/03/2009 11:46 Comment 16
Call off the Elections, give all expats time to register,then set a new election date. That will give time to sort out JZ as well.
Louis in Dubai 12/03/2009 11:48 Comment 17
Ditto AJ Firstly, thanks indeed to all who made this possible. On a sad note, pity though that we can not register anymore. All expats are where we are because of work and we could not take time off just in case this might have come off. In hindsight it seems we should have. Where we would all be willing to put in leave to vote (which I have always considered a duty and not a privilege), we are in iffect being told our vote is not important. I guess then the money lots of us send home regularly is not either. A new home somewhere else in the world is looking more and more attractive. Somewhere where the citizens are valued.
Wouter 12/03/2009 11:49 Comment 18
As far as I am aware if you have voted before and are now overseas you will probably still be registered... Just check on the IEC website. So Boetie you should be able to vote!!!
Paul 12/03/2009 11:51 Comment 19
Guys this is a positive step, if you have registered in any of the other elections you will be still registered at your polling station. Go to the website and put in your ID. Now we need to find out how to contact the chief electoral officer. This is good news
Amori 12/03/2009 11:51 Comment 20
This is such great news! I didnt register in February but were still registered from previous elections, Louis in Dubai - I would check in anycase. Does anybody know how to contact the chief electoral officer?
James 12/03/2009 11:51 Comment 21
Well done guys. My vote will go to COPE
E 12/03/2009 11:51 Comment 22
Welgedaan!! Geregtigheid het uiteindelik gese?er!! Die Vryheidsfront Plus, D.A., IVP en andere het naam gemaak vir hulself en vir ons demokratiese regte wat deur die ANC, wat so hoog heilig is, ontneem is. Staan op vir geregtigheid.
flim 12/03/2009 11:52 Comment 23
If you were registered to vote in the past, odds are you are still on the register, so it really shouldn't be a problem. If you would be registering to vote for the first time, then I really don't see what your problem is if you can't vote now - if you weren't interested enough in the past,when you actually lived here, why complain about it now. I don't see why people who ran for it and spent the past number of years bad-mouthing SA to anyone who would listen in their new country should be allowed to influence events here. Perhaps a limit on how long people have been out of the country for would help. If you don't pay taxes here or contribute to SA society in some way, I don't see why you should have a say. I'm not from SA but live here and cannot vote - nor can I vote in my home country from here. That's how it is. I'm fed up of South Africans always thinking they're a special case or that they're being deprived every single time they don't get their own way. Plenty of countries around the world do not allow ex-pats to vote - and it's often just as well.
Peter 12/03/2009 11:58 Comment 24
Guys, it is worth checking to see if you are registered...I have been living in the UK for the last 10 years, but have just checked the electoral roll, and I am surprisingly still registered to vote!! Yes!! Check this site: http://www.elections.org.za/AmRegister/AmRegister.aspx
Awa 12/03/2009 12:02 Comment 25
Once again the ANC's stalling tactics worked for them. How many expats would have registered if they knew it would either be too late or not be allowed?I doubt it would be a larger number of expats who registered beforehand. ANC 's dirty tactics will probably work for them once again. They must just remember no party has ruled forever or "till Jesus comes again"-even Mugabe's tactics will only work in his lifetime. The followers who think so are arrogant and ignorant.
Wouter 12/03/2009 12:02 Comment 26
If you have voted before you should still be registered. Check on the IEC website. Boetie you should be able to vote!
JC 12/03/2009 12:02 Comment 27
Postpone the elections to give expats the chance to register. This should REALLY heat things up, because then you could vote for JZ whilst listening to live coverage of the 700 odd charges being brought against him. Wow! It will take days just to read them. It will be an event all JZ supporters can be proud of.
Anonymous 12/03/2009 12:07 Comment 28
So expats have a constitutional right to vote, but no constitutional right to register to vote? It should not matter when they made the concourt application if the result is that it was found to be unconstitutional for them to not have been given the opportunity to vote (and by default, register to vote).
Martin 12/03/2009 12:10 Comment 29
Well done, let's now just hope that they all go and vote!
Gina in London 12/03/2009 12:10 Comment 30
Thank you all! I am so please i get to vote and am extremely grateful to those that made this possible.
gabrielle johannes 12/03/2009 12:12 Comment 31
does anyone know 'how' we can vote. i tried calling the high commission in london and they are not dealing with any of this, and were not of any help. i am a registered voter, but my details list me as registered in cape town...what does that mean? no one seems to have any details?
Gus 12/03/2009 12:14 Comment 32
Once you are registered as eligible to vote on the voter's roll in a ward, you remain registered on that voter's roll until you (1) notify the IEC of a change of address, (2) pass away or (3) give up your SA citizenship. Check out your status on the IEC website!
Sakkie 12/03/2009 12:15 Comment 33
Thanks FF+, you did it for all of us who are temporarily out of the RSA. Keep up the fight for the constitutional rights of all living in our beautiful country.
Stryder 12/03/2009 12:16 Comment 34
@Zimbili. The only condition on the right to vote is whether or not you a registered to vote. the whole point of democracy is that you can vote for whoever you want to as a citizen. Whether you like the current governmemnt or not is irrelevant. If we add conditios like you suggest, then I say you have to have a matric and be employed in order to vote.
Annette 12/03/2009 12:22 Comment 35
How do you notify the Chief Electorial Officer of your intention to vote?
Dean 12/03/2009 12:23 Comment 36
Thanks to the great effort from all those people that made this possible... I will be voting come 22/04/09 - London High Commission.
Patrick Jacobs 12/03/2009 12:25 Comment 37
The ConCourt decision does not make sense. Why only allowing registered voters to vote knowing full well that there was a ruling up until today making it crystal clear to South Africans that if you are outside the country and you are outside the categories specified in the electoral act, you could not vote. So the question why then register if you know that you would not be able to vote. Sorry to ay, the ConCourt judges clearly did not apply their mind fully to the issue at hand. I guess if the issue was the constitutional rights of criminals then they would have given us a long diatripe of why it would have been unconstitutional.
Glyn 12/03/2009 12:28 Comment 38
Voted in the past, just check and not registered. WHY???
Zee 12/03/2009 12:32 Comment 39
What if I am working outside South Africa? If you are going to be outside South Africa on a work permit, you do not qualify for a special vote. What if I have or are emigrating? Not so exciting at all - see below. If you are a South African citizen living or going outside South Africa permanently (having emigrated), you will not qualify for a special vote.
Mollie Kruger 12/03/2009 12:35 Comment 40
Great news indeed! Well done Willie Spies and Freedom Front!
Randhir 12/03/2009 12:36 Comment 41
Surely there should be some special registration process\date put in place to allow our people overseas to register seeing as though the decision to let them vote was only decided upon today...
Mike 12/03/2009 12:37 Comment 42
What a Joke! I'm not even South African (tossed it a few years back and have the confirmation) and the IEC website states that I'm eligible to vote.

This comments facility is now closed.

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