DA to fight for every South African citizen’s right to vote

Note to editors: the following statement was distributed at a press conference in Parliament today hosted by the Chairperson of the DA Federal Executive, James Selfe MP, DA Shadow Minister of Home Affairs, Manny de Freitas MP, and the DA Shadow Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Masizole Mnqasela MP. The court application can be found here. Yesterday, the DA and nine other applicants filed papers in the Western Cape High Court to allow South Africans living abroad to register and vote overseas. Although this matter of overseas voters has already been ruled on in the Constitutional Court, the DA seeks to take it a step further by ensuring that all South Africans have the right to vote both nationally and provincially. The Constitutional Court found in Richter v Minister of Home Affairs and Others 2009 that the Electoral Act and its regulations were unconstitutional and invalid as they prevented South Africans living overseas at the time of the elections from voting in the national elections. Richter established the principle, and our application is to take it to its logical conclusion by allowing South Africans abroad to register and vote for both the national and provincial elections. Our court application requests the following: • South Africans to be able to vote on the National and Provincial Ballot; • South Africans being able to register abroad; and • Voting stations be made available in locations where there are no embassies or consulates, but where substantial numbers of South Africans reside. The DA has already attempted to remedy this through a Private Member’s Bill submitted by myself earlier this year which was rejected by Parliament. The PMB sought to provide for the following: • Allow eligible voters to register at embassies or consulates; • Allow overseas voters to vote both for the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures; and • Require the IEC to establish special temporary voting stations where more than 500 special voting applications have been received. The Department of Home Affairs, however, does have to give effect to the ruling in Richter and for this reason it has tabled the Electoral Amendment Bill which is before the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs. As it stands, the Bill seeks to provide South Africans abroad with the opportunity to vote whilst outside South Africa but will only allow them to vote for the national ballot, and will only allow them to register in a ‘national segment’ of the voters’ roll. The DA is of the opinion that the Electoral Amendment Bill may be unconstitutional in this respect as it is a limitation of the right to vote, for the following reason. When we vote, the Constitution provides for both a regional and a national list. All South Africans have the right to vote for both lists and this contributes to the make up of the National Assembly. The regional list populates the National Assembly first and then this is topped up by the national list. As it stands, the IEC’s Bill will only allow for overseas voters to vote for the national list and not the regional list. By doing this, the Bill would also effectively rule out having a constituency-based system. It will also not provide for overseas voters to vote for the provincial legislature. The Act already allows certain categories of South Africans living abroad or outside their province, namely public servants, to register as voters and to vote in provincial elections. This right should be extended to all South Africans otherwise it effectively creates a situation of some being more equal than others. Logistically, this is in fact quite simple and so the DA does not see any logistical or administrative problems in allowing South Africans abroad to vote both for the NA and the Provincial Legislatures. All that will be required is for the IEC to provide overseas voters with two ballot papers instead of one. In terms of counting those votes towards the provincial list, they can follow the exact same procedure as is already done for government officials abroad. Although we agree that the integrity of the voters’ roll is fundamental to credible elections, so is providing every citizen with the full right to vote. The third aspect which the DA is requesting is that where there are sufficient South Africans who wish to vote in the elections in a certain area, that a special voting station is established. At present, overseas voters can only vote at embassies or consulates which might be a great distance from where they are resident and will prevent them from voting. The DA believes that this matter should be dealt with urgently as the next elections are approximately 8 months away and the first voter registration weekend is as soon as November this year. If we are successful in this application, this will require certain logistical arrangements to be made by the IEC in order to allow South Africans abroad to register and vote. It is essential that all South Africans, even those living abroad, can fulfil their right as citizens to vote. We hope that our application is successful as it will go a long way to ensuring that this right is guaranteed for all.

CANSA Chairperson’s Report: Northern Business Unit General Meeting 2013

Introduction The Northern Business Unit continues to develop amazingly with inspiring and dedicated staff that work well beyond their remuneration. The only reason for the successes we are able to achieve is because of the passion that the people in this room have for accomplishing the mission of CANSA. Highlights The R140 000,00 Anglo-American donation for screenings in the Vaal Triangle enabled us to do 2470 pre-screenings by means of PAP-smears and PSA testings. The Vaal was also host to a Relay for Life event where they hosted 117 teams, 150 Survivors and raised R267 000,00. In the Waterberg Regions, with the assistance of Dr Carl Albrecht, and the Executive Committee of the Woman’s Agricultural Union, we launched a process to get government involved in legislation involving carcinogens and children. Thanks to First National Bank, CANSA has been beneficiary to unused furniture. For the first time, we could renovate our offices to a professional standard. Several offices, including the Northern Business Unit office now look fancy-shmancy thanks to this generous offer! Polokwane Region has now put in new beds in the hospitium through some sponsorships and their children’s oncology ward has been finalised. The Face of Cancer project, in conjunction with West Rand Region was launched during the year with screening for skin cancer, PAP smears and PSA testing done. This project takes CANSA to the people, just as we do with our mobile clinics. Our Well Woman Project, in collaboration with the Department of Health resulted in 1703 tests carried out in remote rural areas. Once again we took the Mobile Clinic to the people in the Northern Gauteng, Waterberg and Polokwane rural areas, enabling people who would not otherwise have been reached the opportunity to Health Services, and possibly saving lives. Rustenburg Region has obtained a sponsorship from a local Trucking company. They spray painted a truck Pink and branded it with CANSA logos. Northern Business Unit has hosted another successful event with Copperstone Productions at the annual Bachelor and Bachelorette of the Year event. The KOSH Region’s Potchefstroom branch held a symposium for the second year running in collaboration with the North West University Business School. Several specialists held talks about topics ranging from cancers affecting women to genetics, hereditary factors to health laws and ethics. The North Gauteng’s Pretoria office has widened their service reach with a satellite clinic in Pretoria Gardens. Their Care Home that caters for patients undergoing cancer treatment has benefited hugely from donations from the community. They received donations to upgrade their garden, for new blankets, paint and a lovely new lounge suite. They were also able to raise money with the “Blou Bulletjie” rugby event at Loftus Versfeld, a highlight on the Pretoria calendar, and reached 234 cancer survivors on International Survivor Day. The Houghton Office hosted 59 Shavathon venues this year. They raised R920 000.00! The annual Etana Insurance Group’s Daredevil run was once again a huge success. Adventure Bootcamp raised an amount of R155 000.00 to enable us to upgrade our Keurboom Care Home in Belgravia in Johannesburg. The Southern Region, based in Soweto, hosted a very successful wellness day for the staff at Gold reef City. The Eastern Region in Alberton took part in the Momentum 94.7 race. R20 000.00 was raised for CANSA during this event, and 890 PSA test were carried out on men to detect possible prostate cancers. They launched a support group at the South African Airways’ technical division, and held a successful Men’s Health Symposium. The 37th Wally Hayward marathon, being run annually in honour of the legendary Wally Hayward has once again proved very successful this year, with funds being raised for CANSA. Health awareness by numbers We reached a total of 187 566 people by means of wellness days, symposiums and workshops, and a further 13 356 with health talks and an additional 44 973 people were reached by means of exhibitions. An estimated 80 000 people were reached via the media. A total of 111 490 youth were educated at our schools and nursery schools. Screening by numbers The total pre-testing done by our clinics were 5 233. Our regions did 9 929 pre-tests and 15 162 tests. A total of 291 patients were referred for further tests. The number of abnormalities detected are down from last year; from 4,6% to 1,9%. This is a heart-warming figure and indicates that our awareness programmes are paying off. Support by numbers We assisted 5 045 patients with wound care and stoma products, and 10 523 cancer patients were cared for in our Care Homes. 7 822 Patients and their families were supported with our home based care. Fund development We’ve been successful in our fund generation which includes over R500-thousand raised with our Cuppa for CANSA programme, over R400-thousand from our Jail and Bail activities and just a little short of R4-million with the amazing Relay for Life programme. Volunteer snapshot The number of volunteers within CANSA is moving up! Our Liaison Committees number 80, we have 437 Health Programme Volunteers and an incredible 1013 fund development volunteers. Our Sponsors: We would like to thank our sponsors without whom we will not be able to do any services: A special thanks to our volunteers We express our thanks and appreciation to all our volunteers, donors and supporters for their kindness, commitment and continued support to us and for the cause of Cancer control in South Africa. You have worked side by side with us and your support has inspired us when it mattered most. The success of this organisation is your success. Our sponsors are: First National Bank, Anglo American, Checkers, Nivea, Momentum Life, Sasco, Pick a Pay, Woolworths, Oasis Water, Thobela FM, House of Asante Spa, Bidvest Steiner, Meropa Casino, Ocean Basket, Clover, Concorde Travel, ABSA Bank, MFC, Wesbank, Mercurius Motors Polokwane, Mc Carthy Polokwane, Limpopo Toyota, Cartrack, Mike’s Kitchen, Dura Foods, Enterprice, Granor Passi, Sasco, Uitkyk Vleismark, Welthagen Eggs, Specsavers, Hotel 224, Lifemed, Mamelodi Sundowns, Benoni Rotary Ann’s, The Cycle Hub, MTN, Ernie Els Wines, Guvon Hotels. To all our staff and their families, thank you for your commitment, hard work, time and sacrifices for the greater cause of fighting cancer and providing support to all those affected by Cancer. We salute you and thank you. Allow me to congratulate in advance all those who will be receiving awards. I thank you.