The Rights of Vulnerable Groups | The August Case

In preparing for South Africa's second democratic general elections, the Independent Electoral Commission decided that prisoners had, through their own misdeeds, lost their right to register to vote in their places of residence. The IEC's limited funds would be better spent in enabling elderly and infirm persons to record their votes. Acting on behalf of Mr August, a convicted prisoner, Lawyers for Human Rights asked the High Court to reverse the decision of the IEC and affirm the right of prisoners to vote. In the Constitutional Court, writing for all its members, Justice Sachs held that it was only Parliament, through legislation, and not the IEC, through an administrative act, that could limit prisoners' right to vote. In doing so, Parliament would have to bear in mind that in South Africa the right to vote had been hard fought for by the majority. It was more than just a democratic right. It was a symbol of dignity, equality and nationhood, uniting the most exalted and the most humble in a single polity. Justice Sachs comments that this decision was cited in the Canadian Supreme Court in support of a decision affirming an unqualified right of all prisoners to vote.