Question NW1357 to the Minister of Home Affairs
22 May 2018 - NW1357
Waters, Mr M to ask the Minister of Home Affairs
With regard to the presentation by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs on 27 February 2017, what (a) are the reasons that the Mpumalanga province number of special votes for the 2016 Local Government Election was considerably higher than that of the other eight provinces, (b) additional resources were allocated to Mpumalanga for the home visits for special votes and (c) number of home visits were not conducted due to lack of staff?
Reply:
The Electoral Commission responded as follows:
a) Section 55 of the Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act 27 of 2000 provides that a voter who is unable to cast his or her vote on voting day at the voting station in the voting district where he or she is registered may apply to cast a special vote within that voting district prior to voting day by applying for a special vote in the prescribed manner, which includes submitting a paper application form to the municipal office of the Electoral Commission, applying electronically via the on-line special vote system, or via SMS (for voting station special votes only, but not home visits).
Importantly, no reasons are required to be furnished by a special vote applicant when applying for a special vote at the voting station. In the case of home visits the applicant needs to be a voter who cannot travel to the voting station owing to physical infirmity or disability.
In the 2016 Local Government Elections (LGE 2016) in Mpumalanga, 86% (174 336) of the total of 202 646 approved special votes were voting station special votes; 14% (28 310) were home visits – compared with the national average of 44% being home visits and 56% being voting station special votes. Evidently, in Mpumalanga the vast majority of special vote applications were for voting station special votes, rather than home visits.
In accordance with the legislation, the Commission does not require special vote applicants to provide a reason when applying for a special vote. The Commission has thus not collected evidence with which to analyse the relatively high number of special votes in Mpumalanga in LGE 2016.
b) 2 409 additional voting officials were added to the initial allocation of 5 326 to cater for the approved special votes at voting stations and home visits in Mpumalanga in LGE 2016.
c) Adequate voting officials were allocated in Mpumalanga in LGE 2016 to ensure that all approved special votes were conducted within the timeframe specified in the election timetable.