{"id":96287,"date":"2026-02-25T10:37:31","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities"},"modified":"2026-02-25T10:43:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T10:43:29","slug":"iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities","title":{"rendered":"IEC Commits to Easier Voting for People with Disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>In preparation for the upcoming local government elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has instituted additional training for staff at voting stations to assist people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

This is according to IEC commissioner Janet Love, speaking in Cape Town on Thursday to organisations representing people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

She said some of the training was facilitated by people from the disability sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that it worked to some extent, but what we are clear about is that it has not solved the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Love said some of the challenges related to \u201cbigger societal issues\u201d.<\/p>\n

Michael Hendrickse, Western Cape electoral officer, revealed that in the 2024 elections, there were 18,000 voting officials across the province, but only 15 self-identified as having a disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurely that is something that needs to be looked at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Later on, Anthony Ghillino, Western Cape Network on Disability chairperson and QuadPara Association of South Africa general manager, said, \u201cI would be embarrassed to stand up there and say only 15 people out of 18,000 are people with disabilities who are employed by the IEC, whether they identify themselves or not. You guys need to recruit people with disabilities. I don\u2019t know how you can represent a group that you don\u2019t employ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hendrickse said a municipal outreach coordinator had been appointed in each district to engage with the disability sector to address challenges.<\/p>\n

He said there were many jobs, not only during election time, and everyone was welcome to apply via the e-recruit system.<\/p>\n

A representative from the Cape Town Society for the Blind observed that inclusivity was being preached, but there was \u201cno accessible format for the blind\u201d and no braille version of the programme at the event.<\/p>\n

Hendrickse apologised and said he would raise the issue with the national office.<\/p>\n

Barbara Meyer, from Cape Mental Health, asked Hendrickse to explain the current situation for people with disabilities who wish to vote.<\/p>\n

Hendrickse said a person with a disability may be assisted at the voting station by a person of their choice, who may accompany them in the voting booth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have no assistant, there is a presiding officer to assist you in the presence of two agents,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Other services included braille templates and queue management.<\/p>\n

In closing, Love said, \u201cWe see the idea of nothing about us without us as being a basis for a partnership… We are saying that many of the experiences, we don\u2019t know enough about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur partnership with you is something we need, and because of that, we are saying please join us, let us work together, and make sure we are able to improve, learn and build what we need to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundUp is a not-for-profit news agency known for its focus on public interest stories within vulnerable communities with a “bottom-up” style of reporting.<\/p>\n

To donate, go to groundup.org.za <\/b>and follow the \u201cDONATE\u201d link at the top.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. In preparation for the upcoming local government elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has instituted additional training for staff at voting stations to assist people with disabilities. This is according to IEC commissioner Janet Love, speaking in Cape Town on Thursday to organisations representing people with disabilities. She said some of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":96285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-96287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nIEC Commits to Easier Voting for People with Disabilities - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In preparation for the upcoming local government elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has instituted ad ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IEC Commits to Easier Voting for People with Disabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In preparation for the upcoming local government elections, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has instituted ad ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T10:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-25T10:43:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1772003566.445664.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"IEC Commits to Easier Voting for People with Disabilities\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-25T10:37:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-25T10:43:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\"},\"wordCount\":505,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1772003566.445664.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/iec-commits-to-easier-voting-for-people-with-disabilities\",\"name\":\"IEC Commits to Easier Voting for People with Disabilities - 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