According to a statement by the DA Abroad a large number of South Africans living abroad have expressed extreme frustration with the overseas voting process, either on social media networks or through emails sent to the DA. Some of the reasons for the complexities mentioned were:
- The requirement that voters abroad have a valid South African passport. This is not a requirement for voters in South Africa, who are only required to bring an ID book to the polling station. Many South Africans abroad have expressed their frustration with the administrative problems and delays in applying for South African passports outside the country.
- Voting at SA Embassies, High Commissions, and Consulates only. In many cases there is no provision being made to accommodate the large diaspora of South Africans living in cities such as Perth, Vancouver, Houston, Edinburgh and Auckland among many others.
- The fact that the overseas election date is on Wednesday, 30th April 2014 – not only is this a weekday, but the IEC have still not released the necessary information on extended opening hours which would help people plan their trips to the cast their vote. Special overseas voter registration weekends were held in January this year and similar arrangements could have been made for voting over a weekend. This would have eased the burden on South Africans who may have wished to travel long distances to a SA foreign mission abroad to vote.
The DA says it has campaigned for the past three years for more reasonable access to voting abroad, which brought about the right for South Africans to register abroad to vote. This campaign is said to continue beyond this. “We will continue to pursue the issue of voting accessibility for South Africans around the world, and also for the votes of South Africans abroad to count towards the provincial ballot,” reads the statement.
Compared with the number of South Africans living abroad, which is widely thought to run into the millions, only around 20,000 informed that IEC that they intended to vote abroad by completing a VEC10 form. Without the VEC10, Saffas abroad will not be allowed to vote.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VOTING ABROAD
If you are a registered South African voter you can vote in the upcoming elections. South Africans abroad will vote at their nearest South African Embassy, High Commission or Consulate on the 30th April 2014.
In order to vote abroad you need to:
1. Be registered to vote – you can check your status here: https://www.elections.org.za/IECOnline/CheckIDNumber
2. Have Submitted a VEC10 form to the IEC by midnight (UTC +2:00) on12th March 2014 (that’s midnight SA time) notifying them of your intention to vote abroad.
3. BOTH your green, bar-coded ID book; smartcard ID; or valid Temporary Identity Certificate; and your valid South African passport or temporary passport.
