Special voting begins in S. Africa ahead of May 8 polls

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - Special voting started on Monday in South Africa with electoral officials visiting homes of elderly people, pregnant women and disabled persons to allow them cast their votes ahead of Wednesday’s national and provincial elections.

Polling stations were also opened in selected areas to allow those people, who applied to cast special votes because of their work commitments on the election day.

Former South African anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah were among some prominent citizens who cast their special votes on Monday.

State broadcaster SABC showed a short video clip of the 87-year-old Tutu thanking electoral officials who visited his home in Cape Town to help him cast his vote.

“It always feels good to vote, especially in South Africa because it’s a right that was fought for and some people lost their lives,” Minister in the Presidency Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, told local broadcaster eNCA in Durban after casting her vote.

Dlamini-Zuma urged South Africans to exercise their right to vote because it is their responsibility to choose who should govern them.

Black South Africans started voting only in 1994 after the abolishment of the white minority rule which practiced a racial segregation system that barred blacks from voting.

The Independent Electoral commission has granted permission to over 700,000 South Africans to cast a special vote on May 6-7, 2019.

The South African electoral law allows voters to apply for a special vote which enables them to vote a day or two before the general elections are held.

One can apply for a special vote on grounds of physical infirmity, disability or pregnancy.

Another category of special vote involves voters who will be busy at work, or absent from their voting district where they were originally registered to vote on Election Day.

A record 48 political parties will compete for seats in the national parliament and provincial assemblies. 26 million people are registered to vote, according to the Independent Electoral Commission.