SEVEN residents at Orchard Lea Nursing Home in Musgrave who were registered with the IEC for special votes, feel let down by IEC officials who denied them their democratic right to vote after failing to arrive to record their votes.
Only one of the eight residents at the home registered for special votes, was fortunate to be able to vote when the IEC officials arrived at the home on 6 May to record her vote.
According to Kim Costopoulos, director of nursing at Orchard Lea Nursing Home in Musgrave, IEC officials went to the home, but only saw one of the eight residents who were registered to vote and left saying that someone else would be back later that day.
“Sadly, when I returned to work on Thursday 8 May, I discovered that the IEC did not come back for the other seven residents who were registered to vote. I also spoke with the IEC gentleman in charge on Thursday morning regarding this issue and though he said these residents could not vote, he did ask me to send through an email so that this did not happen again,” she said.
She said she had been liaising with the IEC since the beginning of the year regarding special voting for her residents who were unable to go out to the voting station. An IEC official visited the home in March to help residents fill out their applications for voter registration.
“I was told the IEC would arrive on Monday 5 May between 10am and 11am. We waited the whole day and no one came from the IEC. But because special voting was supposed to be 5 and 6 May, I waited for Tuesday 6 May to see if they would arrive. A woman only saw my one resident, whose husband was also registered for special voting. They let her cast her vote, but not her husband. As they were leaving I caught her by the door and asked why they were not seeing the other residents who had registered for special voting. She told me she was the only person she had on her list and that someone else would be coming to do the rest of the special votes later on,” said Kim.
She said she left all the ID books of the other residents waiting to vote with the staff nurse on duty, but no one from the IEC returned.
“This is supposed to be a free and fair election. Everyone has the right to vote yet these people were denied their right and are very unhappy and very cross that they were not given the chance to cast their vote. This is unacceptable behaviour and very disappointing!” she said.
“This is very wrong. The IEC should not have come in to see just one person, and what is worse is that they came in to see a woman who was registered here with her husband, allowed her to vote and not her husband. This was very badly organised,” said one resident.
“I have voted in every general election since I was 19 and I am very annoyed that I was not accorded a special vote this year. I waited all day to no avail. Is there an explanation for this and have there been other elderly people treated in this way?” asked another.
“It is very unfair to us old people. We are not able to come out and vote because we are not well and some of us can’t even walk. It is the duty of the IEC to come to us so that we are able to vote otherwise transport should have been made available to collect us and take us to the voting station,” said another.
Zikhethele Mahlobo, a young man who was involved in a car accident and is a quadriplegic and a resident at the home, said he would have organised for a car to fetch him and be taken in a wheelchair to vote if he had known they would not return.
“This was very unfair. If the IEC were not going to come back I would have made arrangements to be taken to the voting station,” he said.
In response to questioning Dr Nonhlanhla Hlongwane from the Electoral Commission, said: “The IEC sincerely regrets the residents of Orchard Lea Nursing Home could not be visited on special vote days thus infringing on their right to vote. There were internal errors that occurred in the administration of the 50 933 home visits requests received. We apologise for the inconvenience suffered. We have learned from this and promise to improve in the future.”
