Police ready for election hotspots, says Cele

With local municipality elections approaching and a recent driveby shooting in KwaZulu-Natal which claimed three lives and left five people wounded, Minister of Police Bheki Cele said it was all hands on deck for the different security forces.

Cele on Monday confirmed the South African Police Service (Saps) and the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NatJoints) were prepared for the upcoming elections.

“We have to be ready. Fortunately, I cannot be ready alone but with the men and women in blue, Saps, as well as the cluster of ministers who deal with the security matters [police intelligence, justice and defence and other departments].

“We have met and looked at things and so far it looks like we are on track,” he said.

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Cele said the police had identified problematic areas in the country and had preventative measures in place.

“Saps is aware there are a few problematic provinces, the main one being KZN.

“Gauteng is not very quiet, especially the Tshwane area which does give us some problems, as well as some areas in Free State, Eastern Cape and Western Cape.

“Our common approach which we established for troublesome voting stations is to have security.

“Those that are low risk will have two police officers from Saps, medium risk stations will have four members from Saps and high risk stations will have six members and maybe extras, depending on how risky it is,” he said.