SA expatriates fight for right to vote

South African opposition parties want the country’s courts to change the electoral Act in a bid to give millions of expatriates the right to vote in upcoming elections.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus are challenging the Act that states only people on business trips, studying abroad or taking part in international sports events can have a special vote.

“The right to vote is a fundamental right. The denial of the right to vote to the vast majority of South Africans was central to the struggle against apartheid—a struggle in which thousands of South Africans lost their lives,” said DA executive chairperson James Selfe said Monday.

The party’s application is on behalf of Roy Tipper, a South African teaching English in South Korea on contract who plans to return to the country.

The Homecoming Revolution, which encourages expat South Africans to return home to address the country’s skills shortage, estimated that about two million expatriates would be eligible to vote if the Act was amended.

“There is a renewed interest in politics,” a consultant with the organisation told Agence France-Presse, saying this was sparked by a broader choice of parties in South Africa as well as the election of Barack Obama as United States president.

The DA has filed papers in the Cape High Court, while local media reported on Monday that Freedom Front Plus also lodged an application in the Pretoria High Court Monday on behalf of Willem Richter, a teacher working in Britain.

The elections, expected as early as April, are likely to be the most fiercely contested in years with a breakaway from the ruling African National Congress, the Congress of the People, hoping to dent the ANC’s two thirds majority.—AFP