Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. South Africa

Possible AIDS strain on voting - IDASA

    JOHANNESBURG

    A South African think-tank has warned that HIV/AIDS could have a negative effect on the voting process, particularly in the KwaZulu-Natal, Free State and Mpumalanga Provinces.

    Kondwani Chirambo, head of the governance and AIDS programme at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, said preliminary findings suggested that about 800,000 people might be excluded from the 14 April general elections, according to a local newspaper, Business Day.

    This was because many people who had AIDS-related illnesses, or were caring for HIV-positive relatives, were unable to travel to polling stations and had not been provided with special voting facilities by the Independent Electoral Commission.

    Chirambo added that many potential voters had already died from AIDS-related illnesses since the last census.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join