Durban - The Department of Justice and Correctional Services has denied that some inmates have been left out of the voter registration process because they did not have ID documents.
This was particularly in relation to inmates serving sentences outside their home provinces.
The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) last week urged the families of inmates to ensure they were in possession of their ID documents.
Voter registration wrapped up on Thursday at correctional centres across the country.
However, the SA Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights said it would approach the courts soon because some prisoners were unable to register.
President Golden Miles Bhudu said while the IEC last week had called for inmates’ families to get their IDs to them, this was a challenge for those serving their sentences away from their home provinces.
Bhudu said they had written to the IEC, and the Departments of Correctional Services and Home Affairs last year, raising concerns.
“We asked that they look into a programme where inmates who are not serving their sentences in their home towns would have their ID documents couriered to them,” he said.
Their request fell on deaf ears.
However, the department’s Singabakho Nxumalo said provisions had been made for such prisoners.
“The department couriers documents almost on a daily basis. If any inmate required their ID to come from another province, that provision would have been made,” he said.