It's a few days before South Africans exercise their democratic right to vote and the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) is confident that plans put in place to ensure that the country's upcoming general elections proceed without any incidents of crime and disruptions are sufficient.
NATJOINTS is led by the South African Police Service, the South African National Defence Force and the State Security Agency.
POSSIBLE RISKS
Deputy National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, said NATJOINTS has identified a number of high-risk voting stations and potentially volatile areas that are being monitored on an on-going basis.
"Deployments are subsequently proportional to the level of risk identified through intensified operations, informed by thorough analysis and intelligence-based reports.Threats identified such as community protests are already being attended to and those that are found to be in contravention of the law are being dealt with. Our Public Order Policing Units are on the ground and are ready to prevent and combat any such incidents,"said Mosikili.
She added that they are aware of social media posts calling for a shutdown by a group of truck drivers this week.
"As previously communicated, there will be zero tolerance for threats, intimidation and closure of our roads. Law enforcement agencies are on high alert to ensure there are no criminal activities and that law abiding citizens are not inconvenienced. We call on the road freight Industry workers to communicate their grievances within the confines of the law."
WRONG SIDE OF THE LAW
Mosikili said action has already been taken by those who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
During the first and second voter registration weekends, 50 cases were reported with 45 suspects arrested, with Gauteng reporting the most arrests with 11, followed by Limpopo with nine arrests, followed by North West with eight and Mpumalanga with four.
A breakdown of the arrests per charges is as follows:
-11 were arrested for public violence
-10 were arrested for contravening the Electoral Act
-9 were arrested for assault
-2 were arrested for malicious damage to property
-While 13 were arrested for other cases.
During the period after voter registration weekend, 23 cases were reported.
REMINDER
"We caution communities not to vandalise, deface and remove posters of political parties as this constitutes an offence. Anyone found to be tampering with these posters or vandalising them will be arrested. Such cases have been reported and arrests have been made, for example in Sasolburg in the Free State where a 64-year-old woman was seen in a video tampering with a poster,"she said.
