South Africans living abroad cast their votes on 27 April at South African missions across the world, participating in the general elections taking place this year for the sixth time since 1994.
According to the Electoral Commission of South Africa, the IEC, 29 334 South Africans successfully applied to vote at South African missions abroad.
Sherwin Bryce-Pease tweets about voting in New York. PHOTO: Jana Greyling
Although many South Africans voted at various South African missions, as can be seen from the tweets above, many people also did not vote due to different reasons.
Stellenbosch University alumnus, Setshaba Aaron (23), indicates that he did not vote abroad for the upcoming elections because of the long travel times and the high costs it would involve for him.
“I live in a small city which is roughly five hours away from Seoul (the capital city) and I was not willing to spend R 800 to travel to and from Seoul just to vote at the SA embassy,” says Aaron.
Aaron lives in the small city of Goheung in South Korea where he works as an English teacher. He studied BA (International Studies) from 2015 to 2017 and BA Honours (History) in 2018 at Stellenbosch University before moving to South Korea in February 2019.
Even though Aaron keeps up with South African news on Twitter and the SABC and eNCA YouTube channels, he says that there was a lack of information about the registration process and when voting abroad would take place.
“My assumptions were that we would have to vote on the 8th of May which is during the week. This would mean that I would have to take a day off work. I later found out that voting is actually on the 27th of April which is on a weekend. If I had known earlier, I would’ve made a plan to go vote but I found out after the deadline to register had passed.”
Jessica Amy Graham (25), also a Stellenbosch University alumnus, did also not vote on 27 April. Graham is an English teacher in Hanoi, Vietnam and indicated that she does not keep up with South African news because it is not of interest to her.
According to Graham, she did not register to vote because she left for Vietnam in a rush but now regrets not informing herself about the process and registering abroad.
A tweet addressing travel issues. PHOTO: Jana Greyling
Susan Lynham (59), an Associate Professor at the College of Health and Human Sciences of Colorado State University, studied a Bachelor of Economics (B.Econ), majoring in Business Economics and Industrial Psychology, from 1978-1980 at Stellenbosch University.
Lynham, explains that she has never registered to vote from abroad since moving to the United States (US). She indicates various reasons for this decision, one being costly travel expenses when she was still a student.
“[T]he first time I had a chance to vote (in the 1994 elections) I couldn’t do so without having to travel from Minneapolis, in the state of Minnesota, to Chicago in the state of Illinois (a 7-8-hour drive). As I was a graduate student at the time, I couldn’t afford to make the trip so I did not vote.”
Lynham now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, USA and has lived there for ten years. “In total, I have lived in the USA for 30 years (28 continuous),” she explains.
As a result, it has been difficult for her to keep up with South African political news, and in particular, election news.
“I really don’t have the time nor inclination to [keep up with election news] as I am no longer familiar with the political landscape and players in the country. I would be an uninformed voter if I did vote, and it’s too hard to keep up with the details to become sufficiently informed to justify voting,” states Lynham.
After her difficulties with registration and voting in the US as a student, Lynham decided to leave the voting to the South Africans still living in the country and who could make an informed decision on who to vote for.
“I decided that unless I stayed informed about SA politics it was not responsible of me to vote, and that the political outcomes of the country ought to be left in the hands of those who live there, not those (like myself) who have chosen to live and pursue a career and life abroad.”
A number of tweets indicate that there was some confusion and a lack of information around voting abroad. Problems around registration surfaced on Twitter as well as tweets from students complaining about the difficulties around voting in foreign countries.
A student complaining about not being able to vote abroad. PHOTO: Jana Greyling
Some Twitter users expressed their shock at the low number of voting applications abroad.
Shock about the low number of registered voters abroad. PHOTO: Jana Greyling
Voting for South Africans living locally will take place on 8 May from 7 am to 9pm.