Have we got news for you!
Dear fellow South African abroad,
Have we got news for you!
1. The DA has submitted court papers to the Electoral Court for more voting stations abroad!
The Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted legal papers on Thursday 15 February to the Electoral Court to request the inclusion of all embassies, high commissions and consulates as voting stations for the 2024 elections. We are fighting for more voting stations especially in places such as Perth and other high density South African diaspora locations that are being underserviced or not serviced at all.
This means that if successful, there could be a voting station coming to a city near you! So please register to vote as we may only have a few weeks left until this closes!
For the full press release, please click here.
2. In order to help get more voting stations (and to be able to vote), it is vital you register in the country where you are based, or a mission you can best access in a different country. You can do this online which is quick and easy (we know, for once something is easy).
To register to vote online from overseas now, please click here. Top tips:
Don’t worry if you don’t have a passport or if it has expired, as you can just tick the box saying you don’t have it with you. There is also a chance that the passport requirement for voting will be removed altogether, so please register anyway;
It takes only a couple of minutes. However, if you are struggling with the portal, please take a look at our guide to register here. With the recent addition of a manual registration option, your registration is bound to go ahead.
3. Currently, 45 thousand people have registered overseas, and if we can get another 45 thousand we can elect 2 MPs to parliament with the overseas vote!
While this is one and a half times as many people compared to the previous election, we can still double this tally, as we now have overseas online registration available! Just with the current registration numbers we could get an MP into parliament, and if we double that we could have two MPs in parliament elected by overseas voters alone!
So who is currently topping the registration charts? The top five diplomatic missions are:
1. London: 15,374 out of an estimated 217,000 South Africans in the UK, or 7% of the total;
2. The Hague: 4,542 out of 41,000 in the Netherlands, or 11%;
3. Dublin: 1,922 out of 16,000, or 12%;
4. Canberra: 1,898 out of 206,000, or 0.9% (with hopefully Perth and other locations soon);
5. Dubai: 1,890 out of at least 50,000, or 4%.
We can double these numbers in the next 2 weeks given that (1) online registration for overseas voters is available, (2) the only thing you need in order to register is an ID (more good news to follow here soon) and (3) the DA is fighting for more voting stations especially in Australia.
So if you are in Australia, let’s try to get to 10% of the total SA population registered, namely 20,000 people! For now you have to select Canberra but if all goes well, we will get a voting station near you. You will be able to change your voting station later on to move it from Canberra to a city near you.
Even if we don’t get a voting station near you then at least your registration helped us to fight our case in court anyway. Please register abroad if you aren’t registered yet, or move your current registration in SA to overseas, regardless of how far away your nearest embassy is. This applies from Canada to Qatar to New Zealand: we need the numbers!
4. Saffas in Dubai and the Middle East – we have a special event just for you!
Join two DA mayors - Cilliers Brink (Tshwane) and Chris Pappas (uMngeni, KZN) - on 22 February at 16:30 RSA time, as they bring you the latest from the ground in South Africa - including insights into polling and how YOU can help to rescue South Africa in this historic election!
Our time is running out to contribute to the most important moment since 1994 – it is likely that we only have a few weeks left to make this happen – so register for this special online event now to find out more!
Register for the event here.
5. In case you missed it, the DA launched its manifesto on Saturday 17 February. Click here to watch John Steenhuisen’s hard hitting speech and how the DA plans to rescue South Africa.
I know this has been a lot of information but it is so important, so here is a short summary:
1. Please register online now in the country where you live, or whichever SA mission is closest to you – it helps our court case and fight for more voting stations near you. Please click here.
2. Please share this newsletter with one other South African you know overseas.
3 Please follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram and X) to know the latest on the court case and the potential passport requirement being removed.
Yours sincerely,
Ludré Stevens
DA Abroad Chairperson