South Africans abroad begin to cast their votes

South Africa’s 120 foreign missions, including high commissions, embassies and consulates worldwide, have been turned into voting stations for Friday and Saturday.

Hayley Reichert, formerly from Hillcrest, is the founder of Operation Watershed, a voter advocacy group abroad.

She said access to voting is a problem for some expats.

"A lot of people know that they simply cannot get to their foreign missions so that is a big reason why we don't have the numbers of people registered abroad. You have to travel to your nearest foreign mission to cast your vote. 

"People in the Cayman Islands, for example, would have to fly to New York or Jamaica. People would have to catch trains or fly across countries and it's simply isn't feasible."

She will be casting her vote on Saturday.

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"Here in London, I have also been in direct contact with the South African High Commission, and they have had to organise a road closure of a road adjacent to the building because of the high number of South Africans coming to cast their vote this weekend. 

"I know that they have increased the number of staff and voting booths, and we have 24,535 South Africans registered to vote in London; including that number, the total global South African number is 78,902."  

She believes that advocating for online voting and converting overseas voting from a special to a regular vote could encourage more people to participate in elections.

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