General Elections 2024: Correctional Services Inmates Vote

• The Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola said prisoners also reserve the right to participate in the elections
• Lamola said that prisoners can contribute to the society they want by going after visiting the Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Facility
• He also said that prisoners who were released were invited to vote at home or the prison

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, the State of the Nation Address, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

PRETORIA, GAUTENG—The Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, spoke in defence of prisoners' voting, saying it is their fundamental right as South Africans.

Prisoners vote in Pretoria

According to Jacaranda FM, Lamola spoke at the Kgosi Mampuru Correction Facility on 29 May during election day. Prisoners turned out in their numbers to cast their votes, and Lamola was among them.

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2024 General Elections: Eastern Cape community prevent residents from voting in protest

Lamola said that prisoners should be allowed to vote because voting is for everyone, regardless of whether they are incarcerated. He also addressed allegations that prisoners did not have funds to apply for IDs so they could vote. He said that prisoners must pay for their IDs like other South African citizens. Lamola also noted that prisoners about to be released could vote at home or the Kgosi Mampuru prison.

"We've done a lot of work with the IEC to educate prisoners," he said.

South Africa is voting in its seventh general elections since 1994, 30 years ago when the country voted in its first democratic elections. Stellenbosch University's professor Zwelinzima Ndevu told Briefly News that the ruling party, the African National Congress, would not win by a majority and that the government could be a coalition government, the first in the history of democracy.

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Special voting ends today: Leaders stress the power of the ballot

Eastern Cape residents protest over land claim dispute

In a similar article, Briefly News reported that residents in an Eastern Cape community protested over a land dispute, and they've been locked up with the government.

The residents blocked the main road with rocks and branches, preventing community members from voting at their nearest voting station.

Source: Briefly News