Security experts say it was important for police to do a risk analysis assessment ahead of the local government elections to ensure that voters’ rights are protected.
At least 300 hotspots have been identified ahead of the elections on Monday.
National police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole on Thursday said a task team had been set up in KwaZulu-Natal, which is leading in political killings.
“We have made a lot of arrests on a number of suspects. But we have focus in all the provinces, including Mpumalanga,” he said at the Safer Festive Season campaign launch in Orkney in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.
“During the upcoming local government elections and the festive season, there will be a maximum deployment of security forces and we will be everywhere where criminals want to take chances,” said Sitole.
On Monday, police minister Bheki Cele said 19,000 low risk areas and 3,000 medium risk areas have been identified, where police officials and other law enforcement agencies will be stationed during the poll.
Cele said four provinces – Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal – have been earmarked as hotspots.
Cele said that in Gauteng, additional law enforcement officials will be sent to areas in Tshwane, including Mamelodi, Mabopane and Atteridgeville, to quell any violent attacks related to the elections.
An additional 193 police officials with 150 vehicles will be on the streets of areas such as Khayelitsha in the Western Cape.
Cele’s spokesperson Lirandzu Temba yesterday said they could not divulge more information on hotspots due to security reasons.
“Under the ambit of the NatJOINTS [National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure], the SANDF [SA National Defence Force] will be on standby to provide support to the IEC [Electoral Commission of SA] and SAPS {SA Police Service]. The SANDF will protect national on Thursday points,” said Temba.
Cele said they analysed different factors to rank areas as low, medium and high risk, including incidents that occurred during the registration weekend in September as well.
He highlighted ward 101 in eThekwini where a candidate was shot dead, ward 54 in the same region where three women were shot and in KwaDukuza where a candidate was shot as well. He also said that a candidate was shot in Mabopane.
Numerous people have been killed and injured during the ANC’s candidate selection process. At least six people died in KwaZulu-Natal stemming from political violence.
In Tshwane, ward councillor Tshepo Motaung was shot and killed. In the Eastern Cape, an ANC ward candidate was stabbed to death after a community meeting.
Dr Guy Lamb, a criminologist at Stellenbosch University, said: “It should be comforting to the public because it means police will be on the ground in problematic areas. I would be more concerned if the police had not done anything.”
He said police would need to have a strong network of intelligence in those areas to be able to respond adequately to reports.
“But most of the violence usually happens prior to elections. But we may see intimidation and disruptions, especially from internal party factions but it won't be anything on the scale of what happened in July [during the looting incidents]. They [incidents] will be sporadic,” said Lamb.
Institute of Security Studies senior researcher Dr Johan Burger said police will not be caught napping during the elections, especially in light of the widespread unrest in July.
“The police were caught with their pants on their knees. They have been preparing for these elections for months,” said Burger.
He said police will be using the same operational co-ordinating structures and concepts that they have used during past elections and big public events.
“Police use specific security concepts that they have been able to perfect over years. They will also use their sources of information for tip-offs on what is happening on the ground,” said Burger.
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