The Pretoria High Court has dismissed an urgent application by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) to allow 60 000 officers special votes or ballots at voting stations where they are not registered.
Popcru went to court after a directive was issued preventing police deployed outside the areas where they were registered from leaving their posts to vote.
The integrity of elections is sacrosanct and has to be protected at all costs, said Judge NM Mavundla. Popcru approached the court on the doorstep of the municipal election and it could not come to their rescue. The relief it sought was logistically not practical, he found.
To create a special dispensation to allow police officers to vote between Tuesday and Wednesday was also not possible. Mavundla said allowing police to leave their posts to vote could lead to chaos in the country.
Popcru’s counsel Hamilton Maenetje argued that the police service was bound to take reasonable measures to ensure members’ right to vote was respected and protected. The right to vote could not simply be denied.
Paul Kennedy, SC, for the police service, said there are almost 19 000 voting stations in every corner of the country and only 63 000 police officers to man them. More police are needed in ”hot spots” such as Khutsong and KwaZulu-Natal. Ordinary policing has to continue. Criminals are not given a ”free day” and police stations still have to be manned.
It is logistically impossible to make arrangements to allow each and every police official to vote. Some members of society serve their nation and have to forego some of their rights — in this case the right to vote.
It would compromise the integrity of the election itself if members were allowed to leave their posts, Kennedy argued.
Counsel for the Independent Electoral Commission Nick Maritz, SC, said it is impossible to arrange special votes at this late stage. The process normally takes several weeks.
The Municipal Electoral Act does not allow special votes, but this has been known for several years. The constitutionality of the Act might be an issue for a future election, but nothing can be done for this election, he added. — Sapa