NELSPRUIT – Over a 14 500 offenders voted in mobile voting stations arranged by the Department of Correctional Services and the Electoral Commission of South Africa during the recent national and provincial elections.
The Barberton management area comprises of Lydenburg, Nelspruit and Barberton Correctional centres recorded a total of 507 offenders voted in the 2014 elections. The Witbank management area which comprises of Witbank, Middelburg, Carolina and Belfast Correctional Centres recorded a total of 303 offenders who voted with 131 officials.
Anticipation and excitement was merely written all over their faces as they queued to cast their vote for the parties of their own choice. Interviewing three of them in Nelspruit Correctional Centre who freely agreed to be interviewed and photographed by Mpumalanga News journalist said they were over the moon to be allowed to practise their constitutional rights of voting as citizens of this country.
When asked by their supervisors if they were willing to be photographed by the newspaper, Ms Sindi Mnisi (42) from Kanyamazane boldly said: “Yes because I want to represent our prison.” The two others Mr Tshepo Malupi (30) and Thami Maseko ( 28) also agreed.
Mnisi, who is serving a seven-year jail term for an offence not mentioned to the media, believed her vote would change the lives of many, especially when it comes to education, health, job opportunities and other essential services including water and electricity. “I’m glad to receive this opportunity to vote once again, I never thought prisoners were allowed to vote like other people out there,” she said.
The centre’s Thami Maseko, who is serving a two-year sentence, also on an unmentioned offence, said he was delighted for the chance he was given to vote for a second time. He believe his vote had the power of creating job opportunities so that once he is released from jail, he could be able to start all over again and be able to work for himself.After spending almost 11 months in prison, Mr Tshepo Malupi who still awaits his trial, said he was surprised to learn that inmates also have the right to vote and couldn’t let that chance pass-by. “My vote will definitely change everything for the better for all citizens of this country, including children,” he said.
Nelspruit’s head of correctional centre, Mr MidJohn Mhlongo, said the centre supported IEC in ensuring a credible free and fair election for all inmates and officials on duty who partook in the election processes. “We ensured safety for all individuals at the voting stations within our correctional centre,” he said.
When asked how the centre ensured that the offenders were ready and well informed on voting, Mhlongo said voter education was provided for inmates by the correctional centre in conjunction with IEC officials. He added that the centre also assisted to obtain ID documents for inmates who left theirs at their homes by visiting and collecting the documents on the inmates behalf. The department of Home Affairs also availed its services for inmates who to apply and register for their ID’s.
Despite the fact that inmates and the media waited for hours before the arrival of IEC officials at the centre everything proceeded well afterwards.
