Thousands of hospitalised patients across the country are losing their constitutional right to cast their votes.

This is because the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) hasn’t developed a programme to accommodate bedridden hospital patients, depending only on the special votes option.

The issue has been raised by concerned voters who query why those admitted to hospital forfeit their right to vote, while prisoners retain theirs.

KZN IEC spokesperson Thabani Ngwira said patients who are booked to be in hospital on election day can apply for special votes if they know before the window period for application closes.

“There’s no arrangement for prisoners for local government elections, only for general elections. This is because a person votes were he or she lives,” he said.

Calls for changes

Seasoned political leader and community activist, Pastor Ivan Naidoo, explained that – particularly since 2000 – local government has become a distinct sphere of governance at the coalface of service delivery.

“Section 19 of our Constitution enfranchises every citizen to be able to cast a vote. Prisoners are allowed to exercise their right to vote in the provincial and national elections,” said Naidoo.

“It is my resolute appeal to the Independent Electoral Commission to ensure patients in hospital are afforded their equal right to cast their vote.

“It is a non-negotiable clarion call, in terms of our Constitution and a duty of service, that the IEC responds to this right to vote and establish the necessary administrative framework to do so.”

Local political analyst and traditional expert, Professor Musa Xulu, said the Electoral Act 73 of 1998 provides for special votes for infirm, disabled or registered voters who cannot be present at the polling station on election day.

“The IEC has a calendar of when applications will be accepted, a few months or weeks before the elections.

“Hospitalised voters, unfortunately, often do not know when they will be hospitalised. The IEC has not been able to make arrangements for hospitalised voters, specifically citing the reason that hospitalisation is often difficult to predetermine,” said Xulu.

“However, this remains a moot point. In at least one hospital in Upington in the Northern Cape, some doctors expressed their dissatisfaction with the IEC’s inability to serve hospitalised voters, as they fear the right to v

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ote is being taken away.”