Police are braced to ensure voters and commuters in the province are safe on voting day.
About 22,000 integrated law enforcement agencies including the police, law enforcement, defence force and traffic services have been deployed to 1,579 voting stations across the Western Cape. This was announced at the operational briefing in the early hours today by the provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Sizakhele Dyantyi. The police, according to Dyantyi, have categorised high-, medium- and low-risk voting stations and would be deployed in alignment with these identified needs.
A police intelligence team has further identified 33 high-risk areas in the province based on previous incidents in these areas. “It is based on crime incidents that previously took place within those particular environments that lead to the conclusion to say this particular area and this particular voting station would be then high risk,” he said.
Dyantyi dispelled rumours that a shooting incident happened at a voting station in Manenberg yesterday. “It was as a response of the members of SAPS as they were doing their patrols, where they spotted a wanted suspect and when he noticed that the police had seen him, he pulled a firearm and the police responded. So, the incident was about the response of the police.
“The suspect has been arrested and we have visited the voting station and the incident happened about 150 metres away from the voting station. The people at the voting station did not even hear the gunshots,” he said.
The City of Cape Town’s safety and security commissioner, Johan Brand, told reporters that while they are dealing with elections, they are also implementing their taxi plan to ensure that commuters are not affected by the ongoing tensions in the taxi industry.
Rival taxi associations have agreed to a ceasefire in a month-long escalation that has so far claimed 12 lives. The violence is linked to disputed routes in Delft, Langa and Epping. “Whilst we are dealing with elections, we are also dealing with the taxi plan that we are implementing. That has also started very early this morning,” Brand said.
3.4 million registered voters in the Western Cape are expected to cast their votes today.
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