Govt Makes It Difficult AGAIN for South Africans to Vote Abroad. Calls for URGENT Change!

After the fiasco for South Africans living or travelling abroad during the last General Election, it was hoped that the SA government would make it easier this time around for them to exercise their legal right and cast their vote for a country that many are still very passionate about. But a sugar-coated press statement shows quite the contrary.

During the 2014 elections, South Africans abroad not only had to take time off work to vote mid-week, but many were forced to travel for hours and days – often on buses and planes – in order to cast their vote at designated voting stations… because they were SO few and far between!

In Australia, for instance, wannabe voters from popular SA expat destinations like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth couldn’t vote in those cities. Instead they had to fly between one and almost five hours to Canberra… where very few South Africans live! It was a similar story around the world.

The problem with the lack of voting stations was that they were limited to SA diplomatic missions. And there aren’t a lot of those.

Despite campaigns and calls from around the world to extend the voting stations, the South African government has shockingly announced that nothing has changed. (Although they didn’t say it like that! Their statement headed – “DIRCO welcomes use of SA missions for 2019 elections” – is worded as if something new is being announced.)

In the statement, it reveals the “cooperation agreement” between DIRCO (International Relations and Cooperation) and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was signed on Friday, with DIRCO Minister Lindiwe Sisulu saying she “welcomed the agreement between her department and the IEC about South African diplomatic missions abroad being used for registration and voting”.

DA Abroad Leader Francine Higham confirmed to SAPeople that there is no change.

“Yes, it is exactly the same as the last election, and in fact we can’t believe that it has taken them so long to come to this agreement considering that, as of 2014 legislative changes*, voter registration abroad is something that should be available as a service to South Africans all year around, as it is for South Africans in the country,” said Higham. (*The right to vote abroad was awarded by the Constitutional Court ahead of the elections in 2009, and the right to register to vote abroad was granted with the Electoral Amendment Bill in 2014.)

It raises questions about the ANC-led government’s intentions. While extra costs, time and courtesy will be taken to allow prisoners to vote (many of whom are reportedly ANC-followers), the same respect is not being shown to South Africans abroad. During the last elections, it was noted that buses were put on to help out-of-town ANC-followers reach the London voting station, whilst no such buses were provided in countries like Australia, where less ANC-followers exist.

Sisulu’s comment that “the signing of the cooperation agreement makes it possible for South African citizens abroad to exercise their constitutional rights” is sadly nothing but cheap talk.

While it may be legally possible, Sisulu is sure to know that for most South Africans abroad the current arrangement does not make it physically possible for most citizens abroad. Most cannot afford the time off, let alone the costs of transport and accommodation.

Higham says:

What is disappointing about this statement is that the IEC have not given any consideration to what we have requested of them since 2015, and that is the extension of voting stations beyond what was already there in 2014 to accommodate the large groups of South Africans who don’t reside near Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates, or the ability for those abroad to be able to cast their vote on a weekend instead of a week day which is not a public holiday as it is in South Africa.

The IEC have simply taken no initiative to fulfil their responsibilities to encourage voter turnout and promote the conditions conducive to free and fair elections for South Africans living abroad ahead of the 2019 elections.

Missions Abroad Turning Away Potential Voters and Providing Incorrect Information

Many South Africans abroad have also reported difficulty in just being able to register. SAPeople spent weeks liaising earlier this year with both the SA Embassy in Paris and DIRCO, with the Embassy saying they couldn’t yet register voters whilst DIRCO was insisting they could.

Higham says:

We are also aware that the IEC issued instructions in March 2018, via DIRCO, to Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates to start registering voters abroad, yet many of these missions abroad are still turning potential voters away when they try to register, or they provide them with the incorrect information.

Despite our regular communication to the IEC to highlight this failure to register voters, we have had no confirmation that this issue of poor service delivery has been resolved. With this agreement, DIRCO and the IEC no longer have any excuse for the disenfranchisement of South Africans abroad.

Sisulu said: “Our Constitution provides in section 19 (2) that every citizen has the right to free, fair and regular elections for any legislative body established in terms of the Constitution.”

So far there’s not much that appears free or fair for South African voters abroad.

If you’d like to see more Voting Stations abroad – there’s still time to:

Sign the Petition to improve the voting rights for South Africans Abroad.