Pretoria - The Community Safety Department is pleased about the efforts and results that it has made and accrued from interventions relating to the elections.
"We are glad and proud to announce that no single incident has been reported at any of the 285 polling stations," the department spokesperson Console Tleane on Thursday morning.
According to the department, the success of the operations was attributable to the clinical planning that went into the entire execution. "Apart from a comprehensive plan that was developed and implemented as from Monday. "
The plan saw the deployment of 1117 Metro Police officers in all voting stations. They used 190 vehicles for this operation.
In addition to providing security at polling stations the Metro Police undertook the responsibility of escorting the ballot papers.
The escorting would be undertaken after the counting was complete at the polling stations.
"Twenty-four fire fighters were deployed in strategic places so that they can respond to situations.
"They used 20 vehicles. In addition, there were 7 disaster management personnel on standby, with 5 vehicles. There were also 50 paramedics, with 25 ambulances," Mr Tleane said.
The Disaster Management Centre remains active and on high alert.
The department's top management was overseeing the operations. Meetings led by the department's Strategic Executive Director, Commissioner Mpho Mmutle, were held daily.
The next project for the department will be the presidential inauguration. Again the department hopes to perform well.
Meanwhile, the department is aware that there might be those of our residents who may engage in early celebrations relating to the elections.
"While we understand that the nature of the elections themselves has galvanised millions of people, including young people who were voting for the first time, it is always important to remind ourselves that any form of satisfaction and anticipated victory by any party should be done within the confines of the law.
"Our concern is based on three major points. Firstly, it is always important that the traffic flow in the capital is maintained at optimal level. Any form of celebration that takes the form of convoys may lead to traffic jams. We therefore hope that people will assist us by avoiding this," Mr Tleane said.
The second concern is that there might be problems of drunken driving. The message that the department would like to send is that normal road policing interventions with regards to drunken driving will be implemented.
Any person found to be under the influence of alcohol will be arrested, he said.
"Thirdly, we are concerned that some of the celebrations may lead to the good work done by the IEC will be spoiled," he said, adding that the good work done by the Community Safety department may also be spoiled.
"Our advice to all residents is that they should celebrate responsibly," Mr Tleane said.
