Minister of Police Bheki Cele has reiterated that police operations will continue until after the elections to ensure that citizens are safe.
Addressing members of the media at the Electoral Commission’s Results Operations Centre on Friday, the Minister said safety operations for the election period will end between 24 hours and 48 hours after the announcement of the election results.
“We pulled all our resources together… National Treasury has provided a budget for transportation and accommodation of law enforcement officials and overtime payments. We have deployed more than 17 000 police officers from various provinces to KwaZulu-Natal to ensure the elections take place in a safe and secure environment,” Cele said in Midrand at the National Results Operations Centre (ROC).
South Africans went to the polls on Wednesday to cast their votes in the 2024 General Elections, which are stated to be the most contested in the history of the country.
With reports of post-election violence doing the rounds, the Minister assured citizens that authorities are on high alert to deal with any threats.
The Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security (JCPS) Cluster has been implementing coordinated and intelligence-led operations both pre- and during the elections, where multi-departmental teams work together to ensure that all South Africans are safe.
Coordination is managed by National and Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structures of the JCPS Cluster and the Electoral Commission (IEC).
The Minister said these plans will continue post elections.
Further to this, interdepartmental priority committees were established in 2023 at both national and provincial level to look at safety and security planning.
The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure did a thorough threat and crime pattern analysis which informed a security plan which ensures that “nothing is left to chance”.
The national security plan was approved by the various Ministers of the JCPS Cluster. – SAnews.gov.za