Instigators of violence warned ahead of polls

The government has warned it would be keeping a close eye on social media and would not hesitate to take action against any person who posts threats and instigate violence ahead of the national elections next month. 

Speaking at a multi-departmental press conference on Sunday, minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said Government Communications and Information System is monitoring information shared on social media.

“We continue to do surveillance; we continue to monitor social media in terms of things that are not allowed in terms of our law and also to pick up false and misinformation so that we can tell the public that the information is incorrect,” said Ntshavheni.

Defence minister Thandi Modise said sharing of false, unverified information, rumours or threats online or in person can have serious consequences.

“It can incite violence, confuse voters and undermine the democratic process. Individuals who use social media and electronic platforms to send threatening messages, incite violence or cause harm to others will be charged.

“When an individual creates a video or shares a post to the public and where the post contains words, speech or conduct that may encourage others to commit public violence, the aforementioned post will make one guilty of the offence of inciting public violence and police will not hesitate to track the person down and hold you accountable.” 

Modise said law enforcement agencies were ready to deal with any threats in the coming elections. 

The 2024 general elections are set to be the most contested in the history of this country.

Overall, 70 political parties are contesting this election. In total, there are over 14,903 candidates vying for 807 seats in both national and provincial legislatures, said Modise.

“We want to send a clear message to the public that no incitement to violence, lawlessness, destruction of infrastructure, or barricading of roads will be tolerated. Anyone who participates in any form of criminal activity will be dealt with.”

Modise said the Electoral Court was also in place to prosecute any one who breaks the law during the elections. 

“Prosecutors stand ready to prosecute offences such as electoral fraud and corruption, removing or defacing political party and campaign posters, interfering with the duties of the electoral officials, forcing anyone to vote...” said Modise.

Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi said since the beginning of April, they had received 105,000 new ID applications and of these, 30,000 had already been collected. 

All home affairs offices would remain open for as long as polling stations are open on voting day. They would be able to provide temporary identification certificates to people who may find themselves without their IDs on the day of elections. 

The general elections will be on May 29.

Meanwhile, police are investigating a burglary at the IEC offices in Houghton, Johannesburg, after a break-in was reported on Saturday evening. Police spokesperson Brig Brenda Muridili said a laptop was reported stolen.

“I can confirm that there was a business burglary reported by an IEC employee at the Houghton premises,” she said. “The break-in was discovered at about 17.45pm, so far only a laptop belonging to an administration employee has been reported stolen,” she said.

It is not clear how the burglary happened at the security office park or what contents were contained on the stolen laptop.

IEC provincial electoral officer Thabo Masemola said four other offices were also broken in [in] the same building. "We will only be able to discover tomorrow, once staff members return to work, if there were any other items stolen from other offices."

Masemola said the IEC's systems were not tempered with, thus not affecting their data base or the day- to-day running of the commission. "We have reported the matter to SAPS and investigations are underway to determine who entered our offices illegally."

– Additional reporting by Noxolo Sibiya and TimesLIVE