SA voters abroad get go-ahead

[Frankie]

Ahh, excellent observation. I fear many expats when moving might view the country as a lost cause and reason, "Why bother". I hope i am wrong though.

Many would vote for change, change the very things that made them see the need to emigrate, such as the corrupt ANC's refusal to tackle the crime problem, AA/BEE/EE etc. and many would consider returning if they saw positive change in these areas.

Many still have family, property and other investments in SA, and would love to return if things improved, and the only way that can happen is if the ANC lost the majority, or better still were ousted.

 

[TheHiveMind]

Predictable

They are acting like they did US all a favour ^_~

 

[Londo]

It occurs at the South African embassy as far as Im aware. That's how the Americans voted in SA.

No. By postal vote.

 

[Vrotappel]

Are these FF people nuts? I mean, big up on getting the court ruling, but do we really want the voting day delayed? Yes, I know it keeps Zuma out but do we really want to allow anyone to be able to stop the elections? For whatever reason?

This is scary talk.

It will be good if it can be delayed until after judgment day for Zuma. Also the longer it gets delayed the more change COPE has got to get votes.

 

[Fudzy]

Would ex-pats be allowed to vote for the government in the country they've emigrated to as well as South Africa or does it just apply to those who are temporarily overseas?

 

[iDenTiTy]

Would ex-pats be allowed to vote for the government in the country they've emigrated to as well as South Africa or does it just apply to those who are temporarily overseas?

If you're a citizen then you must be allowed to vote...

 

[MacNabs]

There is no South African Embassy in New Zealand. Wonder how they will handle this, or will they just leave NZ out?

NZ probably has the highest amount of South Africans

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

There is no South African Embassy in New Zealand. Wonder how they will handle this, or will they just leave NZ out?

NZ probably has the highest amount of South Africans

http://south-africa.visahq.com/embassy/New-Zealand/

What is the difference between an "Honourary Consulate" and a "Embassy" ?

 

[Ady]

I think this ruling is very valid, don't know why it took so long. IMO the majority of South Africans abroad will also not vote for the ruling party as many of them may have left because of the ruling party and some of their policies.

 

[Buddha]

well as far as i know they are going to allow people to vote however only if u are registered.

so i would think they would open registrations @ embassys overseas so citizens can vote.

tho the failNC most prob doesnt want 2million educated people voting ... cos they know they will not vote failNC

 

[JungleBoy]

well as far as i know they are going to allow people to vote however only if u are registered.

so i would think they would open registrations @ embassys overseas so citizens can vote.

tho the failNC most prob doesnt want 2million educated people voting ... cos they know they will not vote failNC

...how many of the 2 million are of voting age, registered, are aware there is an election coming ?
I hope they will publish the numbers of people who actually voted from overseas. It would be interesting to know the cost vs benefit analysis

 

[icyrus]

It would be interesting to know the cost vs benefit analysis

What value can you put on granting someone their constitutional rights?

 

[JungleBoy]

What value can you put on granting someone their constitutional rights?

They already have the right, but what this ruling does is to ensure that this right follows them wherever they go. And this is probably the least cost effective way of going about things.

sure we have huge number of SA'ns overseas but I think we don't have the resources that countries like US and OS have. Their numbers certainly justify the cost. Ours is a very small number in comparison

 

[icyrus]

They already have the right, but what this ruling does is to ensure that this right follows them wherever they go. And this is probably the least cost effective way of going about things.

sure we have huge number of SA'ns overseas but I think we don't have the resources that countries like US and OS have. Their numbers certainly justify the cost. Ours is a very small number in comparison

Given our expenditure on pointless military hardware, politician's holidays, etc I would say we certainly have adequate funds to ensure people's rights.

 

[coolio24]

Many would vote for change, change the very things that made them see the need to emigrate, such as the corrupt ANC's refusal to tackle the crime problem, AA/BEE/EE etc. and many would consider returning if they saw positive change in these areas.

Many still have family, property and other investments in SA, and would love to return if things improved, and the only way that can happen is if the ANC lost the majority, or better still were ousted.

I supported this move or campaign, based on the principle of the matter, but to believe that there could be any real change based on an absentee ballot, is foolhardy at best

Lets look at the facts, the ruling only applies to those who are already on the voters roll, leaving out many who may have never registered, so the 2 million odd, is probably more like 1 million, voting would also most likely be done at foreign missions - how many would be willing to travel to their closest embassy to cast a vote - and then how many would even bother casting a vote

Even if we say all 2 million cast votes against the ANC, we are looking at around 10 percent of the vote - and this is highly unlikely

But this is good first step, and will probably help in future court challenges to extend the franchise even further

 

[JungleBoy]

Given our expenditure on pointless military hardware, politician's holidays, etc I would say we certainly have adequate funds to ensure people's rights.

so if we can waste money on arms deals, politicians' holidays, renaming streets, towns, airports, why not waste it further on setting up a polling station in the Bahamas for that one business man who is on a very important "work" assignment.
You see where I'm going with this? Should we justify wasting money in the future just because it has been done before?

 

[icyrus]

so if we can waste money on arms deals, politicians' holidays, renaming streets, towns, airports, why not waste it further on setting up a polling station in the Bahamas for that one business man who is on a very important "work" assignment.
You see where I'm going with this? Should we justify wasting money in the future just because it has been done before?

Universal suffrage seems like a good thing to be spending money on. Also, I think you are vastly overestimating the costs.

 

[JungleBoy]

Universal suffrage seems like a good thing to be spending money on. Also, I think you are vastly overestimating the costs.

I'm curious to know on which ward/province the overseas voters would be registered under. The whole point of voter's role is to have people vote where they live or work. But overseas people neither live nor work in any ward/province in SA. So the question is which province of ward (in case of municipal elections) get their vote?

 

[coolio24]

so if we can waste money on arms deals, politicians' holidays, renaming streets, towns, airports, why not waste it further on setting up a polling station in the Bahamas for that one business man who is on a very important "work" assignment.
You see where I'm going with this? Should we justify wasting money in the future just because it has been done before?

Maybe you should take some time out to read the Electoral Act, before you post, the Act says if you are out of the country on a business trip, you will be allowed to vote, so that IEC official is already waiting fo for the businessman in the Bahamas.

That is precisely why the court challenge succeeded, the infrastructure is set up, for our military, and diplomatic core, sports teams, business people, people studying abroad, etc to vote, but there is discrimination against people working abroad.

They just have to vote where the other guys vote, so no huge infrastructure layout is needed

 

[JungleBoy]

Maybe you should take some time out to read the Electoral Act, before you post, the Act says if you are out of the country on a business trip, you will be allowed to vote, so that IEC official is already waiting fo for the businessman in the Bahamas.

That is precisely why the court challenge succeeded, the infrastructure is set up, for our military, and diplomatic core, sports teams, business people, people studying abroad, etc to vote, but there is discrimination against people working abroad.

They just have to vote where the other guys vote, so no huge infrastructure layout is needed

see my post above.
more to the point - the majority of the 2 mill quoted have emigrated. they might no longer have a ZA address. you can't distiguish from who is working and who has emigrated. But it's easier to tell who is out of the country for a business trip, holiday, or sports commitment...because prior arrangements can be made before they depart