Police maintain high state of readiness for poll
Minister emphasises that officers are responsible for protecting integrity of the elections
POLICE officials were being deployed to all polling stations across the Western Cape, and a joint operational centre was established to oversee a smooth election process, as from yesterday.
Western Cape Provincial Police Commissioner Khombinkosi Jula said police were ready for the elections and had started deploying officers to certain areas.
Yesterday, Police Minister Bheki Cele, Jula, the SANDF representative and the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s Cape chief, Courtney Sampson, addressed and inspected more than 400 police officers at a parade prior to their deployment to various polling stations ahead of the elections.
Cele said police in the Western Cape would focus on a number of hot spots plagued by gang violence and violent service delivery protests.
He said at least 5000 police officers were deployed across the province.
“While the Western Cape is regarded as a low- to medium-risk province, a total of 41 stations have been identified as being high risk,” Cele said.
However, Cele said, “at the moment, all indications tell us that all provinces are ready and fine. There are two provinces that, although ready, remain high-risk, those being KwaZulu-Natal and North West,” Cele said.
Cele said he was satisfied with how police preparations were going.
He said police members were a vital component for South African security, especially during the election period, ensuring a safe environment.
“Members, your duty is to protect the integrity of the elections,” Cele told the officers.
The police have set up a provincial joint operation centre to monitor all polling stations across the province.
At the inspection, Sampson said how happy he was to see the police readiness for tomorrow.
“I want to make use of this opportunity to thank the SAPS, and each one of you here. The preparations for these elections fundamentally include making sure that South African citizens are going to be safe and secure when they go to the polling stations, and that the citizens working within those stations are going to be safe and secure in the execution of their task,” Sampson said.
“We’re very happy to express our satisfaction and comfort with the deployment processes and procedures,” he added.
The police bosses also visited ward 19100115, voting district 970900241, and the Cape Town Civic Centre, where they engaged with the commander of Cape Town Central police station, Brigadier Hansia Hansraj, and members of the public, who also demanded safety.