Voting 'will tax prison staff'

2004-03-04 18:04

Johannesburg - Prison warders would be stretched to the limit in ensuring prisoners vote in the upcoming election, a trade union warned on Thursday.

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) also warned that Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) employees could be at risk in the process.

This followed Wednesday's ruling by the Constitutional Court that all South African prisoners over 18 years were eligible to vote.

Pat Ntsobi, Popcru spokesperson, said while the union supported the Constitutional Court ruling, there were concerns that it would put even more pressure on already overburdened warders.

He said the 244 prisons around the country housed about 400 000 inmates. Popcru had 23 000 members working in the system. He said the union was already concerned about overcrowding and under-staffing at most prisons. Voting would compound those problems.

He said the election process might also produce breaches in security and if this happened, warders and IEC officials could be at risk.

Ntsobi said: "The process of mobilising eligible prisoners to vote in the general election is a major operation within the prisons and will stretch staff to their limits.

"Our contract with our members is to see that their working environment is conducive to their well-being. We anticipate that managing the voting process in the confines of the prisons will take the focus off their daily routines that could cause a breach in security and additional stress," he said.

However, he said Popcru would abide by the ruling. "The highest court in the land has made the decision and we will uphold that."

- SAPA