As the Independent Electoral Commission's (IEC) voter registration drive at the Western Cape's 46 jails comes to an end on Friday, attention is likely to turn to the National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Rehabilitation of Offenders' (Nicro) legal challenge to an amendment of the electoral act.
Nicro has voiced its opposition to the new electoral regulation, which allows only prisoners sentenced with an option of a fine to vote.
Nicro is challenging the legality of the amendment, which deprives prisoners of the right to vote.
As part of the bid to have all prisoners registered to vote, Nicro filed the case, in conjunction with two prisoners, in the Cape High Court on December 23. The court date has been set for February 3.
Continues Below ↓
'Nicro has voiced its opposition' The first defendant is the minister of mome affairs, the second defendant is the Electoral Commission, and the third is the minister of correctional services.
Julia Sloth-Nielsen of the Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative, a coalition comprising Nicro, the University of the Western Cape, and an advisory board of academics and non-government organisations, said it was unfair to exclude certain prisoners.
"Our view is that prisoners are sent to jail as a form of punishment so depriving prisoners a right to vote is not necessary. They should be deprived rights that relate to their status, like freedom of movement," she said.
There were at least 9 000 inmates eligible to vote in the Western Cape. But the total prison population in the country was 180 952 at the end of September.
More than 50 000 of those prisoners were awaiting trial and should be eligible to vote according to the Electoral Act, while a smaller number of juveniles and foreigners were not eligible to vote.
The new amendment, according to Sloth-Nielsen, could deprive about 73 000 prisoners of their right to vote.
Courtney Sampson, provincial electoral officer in the Western Cape, said the IEC was only doing what the legislation allowed it to do.
"We are only registering prisoners who had an option of a fine when they were convicted," he said.
-
This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on January 16, 2004
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
