Prisoners go to court for vote
2004-02-10 16:28
Cape Town - A right-to-vote application on behalf of prisoners sentenced without the option of a fine was brought in the Cape High Court on Tuesday.
The National Institute for Crime Prevention and Reintegration of Offenders (Nicro) is challenging the constitutionality of provisions of the Electoral Act that disenfranchise prisoners in this category.
Nicro launched the application on behalf of two Pollsmoor prisoners, Elise Erasmus and Roland Schwagerl, and all other prisoners in a similar predicament.
The respondents are Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Independent Electoral Commission, and the Minister of Correctional Services, Ben Skosana.
ConCourt
The application was before Judge Jolyon Knoll, who at the start of the hearing reserved judgment in an application by home affairs to delay the Nicro application.
Home affairs wants the controversy decided by the Constitutional Court rather than the High Court, and has already lodged an application with the Constitutional Court for direct access.
The judge said she would decide in the next few days whether the Nicro application should be stayed pending the outcome of the access application.
Andrew Breitenbach, counsel for Nicro, said the minister of home affairs had to satisfy the High Court that the disenfranchisement of prisoners jailed without the option of a fine was "reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity equality and freedom".
If unable to prove this, the Nicro application had to succeed.
- SAPA