Durban — KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi appealed to political parties to ensure that their members do not misbehave while celebrating or grieving over the outcome of the elections.
Mkhwanazi addressed the media on Friday afternoon at the Durban ICC, the provincial results centre, as the results showed that the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) was ahead of most of its counterparts in the province, although it failed to secure more than 50% to govern alone.
Mkhwanazi called the press briefing to send a message to political parties that they should be mature and understand how democracy worked as there would be winners and losers.
“We urge all political parties to spread the message of responsibility when results go out, and to those who will emerge victorious to celebrate responsibly,” Mkhwanazi said.
“Police will be out there to ensure that no law is broken during this period. Supporters of political parties should avoid provoking others and those provoked should uphold the law and avoid confrontation.”
Mkhwanazi called on the losers to approach the courts to register their dissatisfaction with the results instead of disruptive protests.
“If they take it to the street, they are going to find us on the street and it is not going to end well,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said intelligence officers were out in great numbers seeking information about possible chaos that might erupt after the release of the final results.
He said the security cluster had sleepless nights planning the safety of the country during elections, even before President Cyril Ramaphosa announced May 29 as the polling day.
Mkhwanazi said this was because the country and the world had “waited with bated breath” to see how the province would maintain peace during the election period.
“You will recall that during the run-up to the elections there was a person who was arrested after he made remarks that were deemed to be an incitement to violence, threatening that if his party was not going to win, there was going to be trouble in this country.
“So that is just an example of how early we started dealing with the security of the elections,” Mkhwanazi said.
During the planning, cities and towns were profiled and categorised according to their low, medium and high-risk levels and eThekwini was given more police officers because it was considered to be ‘high risk’.
“The operation is not yet over and we urge all our officers not to lose focus. Police officers are expected to be on guard as our intelligence is on the ground collecting the most important information that would inform us what is going on in the days ahead,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said from February, police had dealt with over 900 protests including in eThekwini and Ugu on the South Coast, which turned violent.
To date, police have recorded 68 election-related cases and 24 arrests. Three suspects were still in custody.
The crimes included possession, the pointing of and discharging of firearms, removing and concealing voting material, obstructing on-duty IEC officials, intimidation, defacing and removing campaign posters, assault and fraud,” he said.
Mkhwanazi said three murders in Muden outside Greytown, one in Mpumalanga Township and one in Wartburg were committed on May 29 but not linked to the elections.
Some police officers proved to be rotten potatoes as they engaged in political activities. One of them was spotted wearing political party regalia.
“The members were duly suspended and the investigation unfolded and internal disciplinary steps will follow.
“We cannot have members of the South African Police Service choosing sides, especially when it comes to politics.
“Our role in politics is only to vote for political parties that we favour and, more importantly, to protect the citizens and remain not affected by political parties,” Mkhwanazi said.
Sunday Tribune