South Africans resident overseas may not vote in 2009 elections

[Dave A]

Some interesting perspectives.

First, the scale of the problem:

Although state employees and students living abroad cast their votes at South African embassies, Pitso said these could not accommodate large numbers of expatriates. Between 600 000 and 1,4-million South Africans are thought to live in London alone.

The IEC would also have to set up voting stations worldwide and send election officers to each country. "The IEC did not expect to cater for two million expats when they received their budget," Pitso said.

The commission would also have to cater for the printing and transporting of ballot papers to ensure that ballots are counted in time for the IEC to announce the election results within seven days.

Then we have the blame game:

"It's fair that South Africans overseas should be allowed to vote. My argument is simply that the [DA and Freedom Front Plus] should not have waited until so close to elections to contest this law." (Pitso)

All South Africans living abroad could vote in the 1994 elections, but the legislation was subsequently amended.

Mulder said that opposition parties have been trying since 2003 to have the Act amended. After countless delays and unmet promises by the ANC, "all that was left was to go to court".

And will it really be too much extra effort?

FF+ leader Pieter Mulder dismissed claims that the exercise would be too costly and time-consuming for the IEC to arrange.

"The infrastructure for voting is already in place at our embassies and ballot papers are sent across without any problems during each election.

"It's just a matter of adding more resources to cater for more voters. I don't believe this will cost as much as experts claim it will," Mulder said.

He added: "Interested citizens will have to approach the embassy and register … this will create a filter, and there'll certainly be less than two million expats casting their vote."

Mulder suggested the commission should consider implementing an electronic voting system similar to that used in the United States.
extracts from M&G article here

I wonder what the vote split was when the Electoral Act was amended?
And surely someone should be reviewing legislation as it is generated to ensure it complies with the Constitution?

[duncan drennan]

And surely someone should be reviewing legislation as it is generated to ensure it complies with the Constitution?

Isn't that parliament's and ultimately the president's role? If it is unconstitutional then any citizen can challenge it in the Con Court, can't they?

The registration issue is now null and void anyway - the voting day has been declared and no new registrations are allowed after that. The court application to have the date scrapped was thrown out. So currently, anyone who is out of the country and registered can vote (everyone who has voted since 1994). Anyone who turned 18 in the last five years and is out of the country cannot registered, and cannot vote.

Passing thought...I wonder if the court challenges were left late to try to force the voting to happen later in the year and closer to other court dates...

[Dave A]

If it is unconstitutional then any citizen can challenge it in the Con Court, can't they?

If they are prepared to commit to the financial cost thereof.

Clearly existing procedures have failed to stop unconstitutional legislation from getting through. This suggests the need for an independent legal standing committee to be put in place that scrutinises each piece of legislation that is put through in future.

The registration issue is now null and void anyway - the voting day has been declared and no new registrations are allowed after that. The court application to have the date scrapped was thrown out.

It was dismissed based on the President's undertaking to delay proclamation. And then the President made the proclamation the next day!

[I Robot]

NCOP can do more to monitor implementation of laws, says Chairperson

19 March 2009

The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces Mr Mninwa Mahlangu, MP, believes the NCOP has not done enough to monitor the implementation of laws passed by Parliament.

Mr Mahlangu said there was a serious lack of information on how the electorate was benefiting from the laws that Parliament passed. He said the NCOP could play a huge role in this regard through primarily focussing on monitoring the implementation of section 76 legislation (Bills that affect the provinces)

Addressing the media on Wednesday night in Cape Town, the Chairperson said Parliament should dedicate more resources to monitor the impact of the laws.

“We seem to have lagged behind in overseeing the implementation of the laws that we have passed. The issue of capacity is a contributing factor in this regard,” said Mr Mahlangu.

Oversight could be done in many ways, including putting questions to the executive, site visits and public meetings (Taking Parliament to the People), he said.

“Through outreach programmes we are able to pay attention to key service delivery areas.”

Mr Mahlangu said another challenge facing the NCOP was the capacity to ensure that legislation passed in the house was able to pass muster constitutionally. He said it was important for Parliament to satisfy itself that the legislation conformed to the Constitution in all respects.

“Parliament should develop capacity and set up mechanisms to ensure that legislation that is brought before or passed by the houses is of sound quality constitutionally,” said Mr Mahlangu.

This, he said, could include a mechanism to assist Presiding Officers to scrutinise legislation, in order to satisfy themselves, before such legislation was finalised or sent to the President for assent.

More...

[Dave A]

I thought this thread was appropriate for this little gem from government.

They're only thinking of this sort of stuff now?