The Cape High Court on Tuesday reserved judgement in an urgent application launched by Nicro to secure voting rights for prison inmates who were jailed without the option of a fine.
Nicro, the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders, took the case to court on behalf of all such prisoners, but specifically highlighted the plights of two, Elise Erasmus, jailed for three years for theft, and Roland Schwagerl, who is serving one year for domestic violence.
Nicro’s legal team, Andrew Breitenbach and Nadine Fourie, said that the limitation imposed by an amendment to the Electoral Act disenfranchised such prisoners and was therefore unconstitutional.
They said the onus was on the Home Affairs Minister to satisfy the court that the limitation was ”reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society, based on human dignity, equality and freedom”.
If he was unable to satisfy the court about this, the Nicro application had to succeed, they said.
They added that the right to vote was inherently linked to the right to dignity.
Vas Soni, SC, counsel for Home Affairs, said it was better for the Constitutional Court to decide the controversy, and that an application had already been made for direct access to the Constitutional Court.
He said the Constitutional Court had not yet decided the question of direct access, and it would be a ”mark of grave disrespect for the Constitutional Court” to meanwhile set the matter down for hearing in the High Court.
He contended that Parliament was empowered to disenfranchise certain categories of prisoners, such as those jailed without the option of a fine.
He said the purpose of the limitation was to protect the integrity of the voting process and retain public confidence that public resources were expended in a fair manner. – Sapa