'Graft rules out expat vote'
Chronic fraud and corruption within the ranks of home affairs is one reason South Africans citizens living abroad should not be allowed to vote, according to Minister of Home Affairs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
She revealed this in an answering affidavit responding to a court bid by 12 South Africans living overseas to be allowed to vote in the upcoming April 22 election.
‘One of the serious considerations in the case of South Africa is the integrity of the external vote at a time when the integrity of the South African passport is being questioned by, for example, the United Kingdom. The integrity of the South African ID book has similarly been a matter of constant battle over the years.
The UK recently announced that South Africa will no longer have its visa-free arrangement with the country because of the large-scale fraud and corruption in the home affairs system, which has led to high levels of false South African passports.
Mapisa-Nqakula says that if the applicants are working abroad and ‘send money to South Africa” they can come back to vote. ‘There is no evidence before the court that they cannot travel to vote in South Africa.”
In the court papers Mapisa-Nqakula alludes to the possibility of the electoral system being changed to allow for more direct representation.
‘This discussion may well be rekindled if the Act is sent back to Parliament for correction of some defects. Consequently, if the legislation is referred back, it may require two or three years to complete the process.”
Mapisa-Nqakula takes issue with the timing of the application, saying applicants gave no reason why ‘this application was not brought earlier”.
The matter is set to be heard in the Constitutional Court on March 4.
