Desire to vote resurrects Florida man from the dead

Election day urgency and a determination to place an ‘X’ in a box brought to a close an over three-year fight to be declared alive.

Doubting if one is alive may be more philosophical than literal but in 2018, Patrick Koopman was informed by a bank that he was deceased. The news would begin a long trudge through red tape, paperwork and government buildings that would finally come to an end on voting day, November 1.

A healthy Patrick would last deal with the Department of Home Affairs in 2014 when needing to replace a lost Identification Document. A few years later he would lose his job and while managing his affairs he received the strangest of information. ”The guy behind the bank desk looked at me funny, went to call his manager, then they turned the screen and said ‘Mr Koopman, you are dead’,” he recalled.

After making an enquiry at a second bank and receiving the same news, a shocked Patrick went to Home Affairs where he filled out a series of forms and expected the clerical anomaly to be rectified. Several months would pass as Patrick awaited confirmation from Pretoria and when his patience was exhausted, called Home Affairs to inquire. “They told me they tried to get hold of me but my number was wrong,” Patrick recalled, whose number on the form is the same as the one he uses today.

The 2019 national elections were now approaching and wishing to vote, he went to the same voting station he had always used. Upon arrival the scanner again confirmed that the database believed him to no longer have a heartbeat. With his name still on the voters roll, he explained the situation and was allowed to complete a MEC7 form and he deposited his ballots into the blue IEC boxes.

The voting incident would prompt him to restart the process at Home Affairs, this time being requested to produce his ID, birth certificate, IDs of his parents as well as proof of the schools he went to. The collection of these documents would drag on to 2020 and the onset of the global health panic, creating another delay as organisations limited services accordingly.

Repeated attempts to visit Home Affairs under the various lockdown levels left the situation hopeless, leaving Patrick on the verge of giving up. By the time the most recent elections arrived his deceased status remained, but he decided to test the system at the voting station again. This time however, he was not on the roll and explanations to the party agents at the Democratic Alliance produced suggestions that he go to Home Affairs which was open on voting day.

Told to seek out specific officials, Patrick and his brother Donavon, made their way to Roodepoort Home Affairs. After again filling in the forms he had done so several times before, Patrick was told to return home and wait for a decisive phone call that would come later that day. After hours of clock-watching and follow-up calls he was finally told to come back to Roodepoort Home Affairs, rubber stamping his resurrection at a Home Affairs counter five minutes before the 19:00 closing time.

These efforts would be in vain if he could not make it to the voting station in time, rushing back to Florida Park High School. Not on the roll but with the assistance of party agents and officials, he was able to cast his ballot in the same fashion, using the MEC7 form. “Thank you to Dawn and Caleb and the rest of the Finn family. Thanks to Anele, the presiding officer and thank you to Gloria, Nikki and Godfrey from Home Affairs,” said Patrick.

The administrative Lazarus has now formalised his affairs and resumed a life of normality. “I believe it was the hand of God that touched us that day, solving a three-year problem in one day. Thank you to my brother, Pastor Donavon, who got me through everything that day,” Patrick added.

A relieved Patrick quoted Romans 8 verse 28: “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose”.