OPINION: The police’s ability to ensure a relatively safe environment for the municipal elections should therefore be judged rather on their proven track record for such events. It is no guarantee that it will be completely incident free, writes Dr Johan Burger.
As South Africans approach the November 1 local government elections, there appears to be some element of apprehension about possible political violence. This is not surprising, due to the shocking widespread public violence and disorder that took place in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng during July this year.
Consequently, they were clearly unprepared for the scale and spread of the violence and destruction that followed. However, for the upcoming elections they have had ample time to plan and put measures in place to identify networks that may try to instigate violence, and locations where outbreaks may occur.
The ability of the police to safeguard the elections should not be judged by the crime situation in this country, nor other outbreaks of public violence. Our high crime levels are a result of many complex factors and are not only the result of challenges our police are struggling with. During recent discussions with the police I was informed that they are applying precisely the same operational concepts and co-ordinating structures for the 2021 municipal elections.
It is the responsibility of the Priority Committee to do the security planning for the elections and to regularly brief the NatJOINTS and other structures where required on progress in this regard. The operational planning is based on the regular intelligence briefing by the ICC.
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