North West and KZN regarded election hotspots
The Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, says the North West and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) provinces have been prioritised as high risk areas ahead of the 8 May general election.
Cele outlined the state of readiness for the South African Police Service (SAPS), adding their operation will be in full swing from the 6th of May.
The Police Minister expressed his confidence that all safety and security measures have been put in place to create a positive and fair environment for the upcoming elections.
"A capacity of five teams will be maintained at a national level to be deployed to any part of the country where the situation requires urgent intervention to deal with high-risk situations.
"The highest risk areas are the North West and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, " Cele said.
A total of 3 504 reservists will be deployed nationwide and 51 306 police officers will be deployed to all the voting stations on election day.
"Members of the SAPS will enhance visibility and prevent any form of criminal activity in and around voting stations and the results centers.
"Furthermore, police officials will monitor all forms of protestation or 'shutdowns' to ensure that no individual's constitutional right to vote will be infringed.
According to Cele, law enforcement agencies will also provide security services to the presiding and voting officers when they collect and deliver ballot papers/boxes to voting stations.
Cele added that they will also assist the people who lost their belongings and Identity Documents (ID) during the recent floods in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
"The Department of Home Affairs will issue over 300 ID documents and in the Eastern Cape just about 120.
" The Department will continue to issue more temporal identification documents to those affected by the floods."