Cape Town - Political parties in the Western Cape have expressed concern over the low number of special vote registrations with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in the province, saying more could have been done to increase the numbers.
Nationally, the IEC recorded a total of 1.6 million special vote registrations, while in the Western Cape, the commission registered 48 998 home visits and 84 684 voting station visits ahead of the May 29 national and provincial elections.
Provincial electoral officer Michael Hendrickse said the commission was happy with the number of special vote registrations.
“The IEC in the Western Cape is happy with the number of South Africans who made use of the opportunity to apply for a special vote,” said Hendrickse.
The IEC applications for special votes for home visits or to vote in a voting station a day or two early closed on Friday, May 3; however, the window for special votes will close on May 17 for applicants who will be outside their voting districts on May 29.
Marius Fransman, leader of the People’s Movement for Change (PMC), said more could have been done by the IEC to encourage voters at old age homes and other places of care to register for special votes.
“What the IEC has recorded is very disappointing; these numbers are very low. Our people will be voting in the winter, and many of them won’t be able to go to the voting station because of their disabilities and so on.
“As we are heading to the elections, it is still not clear how many voting stations we will have or whether adequate resources have been allocated to voting stations to cater for such people. More should have been done to encourage these voters. This number does not reflect the actual population of people that require special votes,” said Fransman.
Masizole Mnqasela, leader of the Alliance of Citizens for Change (ACC) and former DA Western Cape speaker, said political parties didn’t do enough to encourage those with special needs to register to vote.
“I think parties have failed. To go out there and do door-to-door, we have a lot of our people who are wheelchair bound and those who are in old age homes. These people needed our assistance; however, the parties have failed. I think more could have been done by political parties and the IEC to assist special needs voters,” said Mnqasela.
Hendrickse said it was important that all eligible South Africans know which voting stations they are registered at. To check at which voting station you are registered, SMS your ID number to 32810; check online at www.elections.org.za or visit your local IEC office during office hours.