South African Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi remains concerned about the Electoral Laws Second Amendment Bill — which allows people temporarily out of South Africa to vote abroad in next year’s national election.
He argued in the National Assembly — while piloting the Bill — that ”in my opinion what was not constitutionally problematic may become so as the Bill before us only allows certain citizens who are abroad for certain temporary purposes to vote, while depriving others who are in a similar situation of the same opportunity”.
This Bill, which was given the nod by the National Assembly on Tuesday morning, amends the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill, passed earlier this year. The Democratic Alliance abstained on the amending legislation.
The Bill will now be referred to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence, according to Deputy Speaker Baleka Mbete.
The Bill was approved by the home affairs portfolio committee last Friday, permitting South African citizens temporarily overseas at the time of the election to vote, provided they register as a voter and notify the electoral commission of their intended absence on election day.
In terms of the Bill a person may cast his or her vote if he or she is temporarily absent for purposes of a holiday, a business trip, attendance of a tertiary institution or an education visit or participation in an international sports event.
Buthelezi said he was pleased that what he had originally proposed as the responsible line-function minister had ”now been partially accepted and is before us for approval”. The government came under pressure from the Freedom Front — under Dr Pieter Mulder — to include those abroad in the voting net.
Buthelezi argued that as a matter of policy it was essential to allow all South Africans an opportunity to participate in the electoral process.
Buthelezi, who is leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, had expressed this view when piloting the Bill through Cabinet but he had to defer to the decision of Cabinet to originally exclude voters abroad.
He said as it was read now, the Bill would still exclude a citizen who is abroad working on a temporary basis as an employee.
”The same would apply to all South Africans who live abroad for an extended period of time. It may be problematic to justify such differentiation of treatment.”
His party, however, gave the nod to the Bill along with the ruling African National Congress. — I-Net Bridge