IEC lawyers present impracticalities of having voting stations at honorary consulates
The IEC in its challenge against the DA’s bid have the court compel it to set up polls at honorary consulates said they had no state powers and therefore can’t conduct elections.
Picture: Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Lawyers for the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) have presented what they call impracticalities of having voting stations set up at honorary consulates.
The Electoral Court heard the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) application on Tuesday, which was challenged by the IEC.
ALSO READ: Rights of South Africans living abroad at stake if they can't vote at a consulate near them - DA
The DA wants the court to rule that the commission must do all that is necessary to set up polls at consulates, but the IEC contends that honorary consulates have no State powers.
Moreover, the party wants the IEC to supply staff from official consulates and resources to honorary consulates, which are privately run, to allow South African voters far from embassies and high commissions an opportunity to cast their votes.
But a lawyer for the IEC, Geoff Butlender, pointed out what it would take to make this happen.
“The commission would have to make a determination of what resources and facilities an honorary consulate may require. Then it has to consider the facts in respect of each one of those 130 consulates, [and] then it must make a determination if it has the capacity to conduct a free and fair election.”
Meanwhile, the DA’s lawyers asked the courts to prioritise the constitutional rights of South Africans overseas in its ruling.