The Pretoria High Court will on Wednesday hear an application by the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) to delay the Presidency from proclaiming the date of the national elections.
On Monday, Judge Aubrey Ledwaba stood the matter down to Wednesday.
The FF+ brought an application on behalf of Willem Richter, a South African living in England, to interdict the Presidency from proclaiming the election date.
Quintus Pelser, legal counsel for Richter, told the court that he had received ”assurance” from the Presidency that the proclamation of the election date ”was not with government printers”.
The party argued that if the president were to proclaim the election date, it would make it difficult for South Africans abroad to give notice to the Independent Electoral Commission within the 15-day time frame.
”We don’t have a problem with the announcement,” said FF+ spokesperson Willie Spies, but the party was concerned that should the date be proclaimed, there would not be sufficient time for those abroad to give the IEC sufficient notice of their intention to vote.
Earlier, Judge Piet Ebersohn ruled that registered South Africans living abroad be allowed to vote as the current legislation infringed on their rights.
The court ruled that the electoral Act ”limited” the casting of votes to people temporarily living abroad.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) was also ordered to change its voting procedures so as to allow South Africans living abroad to vote.
By Monday afternoon, the IEC could not be reached for comment while the Democratic Alliance said it was encouraged by Ebersohn’s ruling.
‘Logistical nightmare’
Meanwhile, allowing South Africans living abroad to vote would be a ”logistical nightmare”, an election expert said on Monday.
”Logistically it would be a nightmare; it would mean setting up voting stations across the globe … it will impact on the closing date of the voters’ roll … it would prolong the announcement of an election date, and in effect the election,” said Titi Pitso, election and political processes manager at the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA).
EISA is a non-profit organisation that focuses on elections, electoral practices and the promotion of democratic governance on the African continent.
Pitso said a nod from the Constitutional Court on the ruling would mean the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) would have to ascertain how many potential voters there were in each country across the globe.
This is itself would be a ”hassle”, she said.
Typically embassies in foreign countries were used for citizens to cast their ballots. The IEC would have to staff voting stations set up at embassies with independent workers.
”The staff at the voting stations would have to be independent, therefore no government workers could be used, the IEC would have to send independent workers to each country.
”This will be an added burden to the taxpayer as it is very expensive to fly them and accommodate the workers … the number of staff required in each country or city will depend on how many potential voters are in each city,” she said.
The voters in foreign countries would then have to be added to the voters’ roll through registering, and this process could take time.
Pitso said the IEC would also have to create awareness about polling stations in foreign countries, which entailed advertising across the globe, another hefty expense.
The largest hurdle for the IEC would be to ascertain exactly how many potential voters there were in each country in order to determine where to set up stations and what the manpower requirements of these stations should be. — Sapa