Court backs S African expats' right to vote

Dubai: The Pretoria High Court has ruled that South Africans living and working abroad should be allowed to vote in elections.

Handing down the judgment, Acting Judge Piet Ebersohn ruled that current legislation — that does not allow expatriates to vote — infringed upon the rights of citizens living abroad, according to the South African Press Association.

There are no reliable statistics of the number of South Africans living abroad, although some estimates place it well over a million, living across the world.

The South African embassy in the UAE, conservatively estimates that there are around 40,000 South Africans in the UAE. Only a small number of South Africans outside the country, who were able to secure a special dispensation, have been allowed to vote after the country's first democratic elections in 1994.

The head of South Africa's Independent Electoral Commission, Brigalia Bam, has reportedly said the body will "respect any decision made by the courts".

Elections

However, the High Court has referred its judgment to the Constitutional Court, South Africa's highest court, for confirmation. Willie Spies, the spokesman for the Freedom Front Plus, the opposition political party that brought the case to the High Court, warned that the Constitutional Court could overrule the judgment. The FF Plus had brought the application on behalf of a South African school teacher living in the United Kingdom.

South Africa must hold elections by the middle of July. A date for the poll was expected to be announced this month, but the proclamation may now be delayed to allow the Constitutional Court time to consider the matter.

With additional inputs from Bloomberg

All South Africans should have the right to vote, whether they are living in South Africa or abroad.
Renette Louch
Dubai,UAE
Posted: February 10, 2009, 10:01