Father irate over lack of facilities for disabled at voting stations

“Disabled people are evidently second class citizens in the view if the IEC,” said an irate Edenglen resident.

The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has denied the constitutional rights of disabled individuals.

The man said during the last election, his 30-year-old son could not access the voting station due to a lack of ramps for wheelchairs to access voting areas.

His son was injured four years ago in Iran, during a mining survey contract. A building collapsed on him, resulting in him being a C5 quadriplegic.

According to the father, during the last elections the chief electoral officer at an Edenglen voting station was “extremely rude and offhand” when questioned about this.

Several community members had to carry the resident’s son up the stairs to the voting booth as no ramp was put in place.

When he reported this to the IEC, the response was “equally pathetic”.

He was told his son should make a request with the IEC to visit his home and record his vote. The resident has tried emailing the IEC but has received no response.

“Having to sit and wait at home for someone from the IEC to come and record your vote is a huge insult and an affront to the dignity of a disabled person,” said the resident.

Danie Botha-Marais, the projects and rural development manager from the National Council for Persons with Physical Disabilities in South Africa (NCPPDSA), said the IEC should ensure the voting stations and facilities are sufficiently staffed by trained volunteers and staff who can assist all disabled people. This includes visually, verbally, intellectually and physically impaired individuals.

“The IEC is not allowed to turn away voters, impaired or otherwise, and must make sure the correct access facilities are put in place to give physically disabled individuals access to allow them to vote,” he said.

The IEC’s chief communications officer, Ms Kate Bapela said, “The Electoral Commission is saddened to hear about negative experiences that voters with disabilities had at voting stations and understands their frustration and anger when they are treated differently to everyone else. It is certainly not our intention to do so and we fully appreciate that many disabled persons choose to visit a voting station along with all other voters to register or on voting day as is their right.”

“The IEC has a real problem – they just do not understand that a person in a wheelchair requires the same freedom to go to a polling station and vote as every other citizen,” said the Edenglen father.

Ms Bapela said where access is difficul at voting stations, IEC officials have been trained to accommodate disabled voters by making allowance for them to exercise their vote at the nearest point of access.

“Sometimes officials mean well by suggesting a home visit (which is an option) but should also be willing to accommodate a voter by allowing him/her to vote outside the voting station. We will take this up with our staff and training personnel to ensure this kind of response does not happen again,” said Ms Bapela.

“The IEC does not own or manage any of its venues used for voting stations, of which there are approximately 22 500. These venues are only used for a few days every few years. For this reason, the IEC relies on public venues which are conveniently located in voting districts. The majority of these stations are schools (65 percent of all stations), community, civic halls, places of worship and other community venues make up the rest of the venues. Many of these are unfortunately, older facilities and do not have the necessary accessibility facilities,” said Ms Bapela.

“Although the Electoral Commission does not own venues, it regularly conducts surveys to assess the suitability of a venue and how well it conforms to norms and standards, including water, electricity, sanitation and disability accessibility.”