OPINION: Acts of violence undermine grand promises of a peaceful election
Until politicians take bold action on their public undertaking to desist from committing inflammatory acts of intolerance during election campaigns, they will continue to undermine the agreement they have just made to abide by the electoral code of conduct.
Inside the narrow legal frame within which the pledge to peaceful elections by political leaders has taken place this time around, their confidence in the ability of the election observers, the IEC and the Electoral Court to prevent, mediate, and adjudicate electoral disputes is a great success in our democracy given the reality that election campaigns are often emotionally charged.
Regrettably, political intolerance continues to blemish our democracy. The report of the Moerane Commission, established in KwaZulu-Natal to investigate political killings, pointed to several government failures, provincial politics and ultimately, material greed as factors that perpetuate political killings.
It is the lack of evidence of reporting by community members to the police of those suspected for violating electoral law, of police investigations and prosecutions that result in conviction and imposition of harsh sentences to perpetrators that is alarming to us election observers, given the damage caused by these attacks to efforts to build peace and social cohesions in our communities.
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