The National JOINTS departments including the South African Police Service (SAPS), the South African National Defence Force, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and several other government departments across the country will be out in full force to ensure that the upcoming voter registration process runs smoothly.
Voter registration will take place this weekend, 9 and 10 November 2013 at 22 263 registration points throughout the country. It will be the task of the joint security forces to ensure that this process takes place in a peaceful environment, free of intimidation and violence.
The joint operational centres both at the national and provincial levels have been set up and will be continuously monitoring the situation closely. “We are ready to deal with any eventualities,” said Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, the National JOINTS Chairperson.
While the voter registrations are expected to be held in a generally peaceful environment, the SAPS and other role players are leaving nothing to chance as there had been crimes related to elections in the past.
Simply put, the right to vote is enshrined in our constitution and the JOINTS is tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that this right is exercised in a peaceful environment. In the past, the joint security forces ensured that crimes during the 2009 and 2011 elections did not go unpunished.
In the 2009 elections, a total of 496 suspects in all of the country’s nine provinces were arrested in connection with election related crimes. A total of 68 people were found guilty for crimes ranging from intimidation to murder.
While several of these suspects were sentenced to terms of imprisonment, one case stands out in which one suspect was sentenced to life plus 15 years imprisonment for an election-related murder committed in Umkomaas in January 2009.
Also during the 2011 local government elections, 265 suspects were brought before various courts for crimes such as intimidation, assault, crimen injuria, public violence, attempted murder and murder.
Out of this number a total of 41 people were convicted and sentenced accordingly. In one of these instances a man was handed down a lengthy sentence of 25 years for an election-related murder committed in March 2011 in the Montclair area of KwaZulu-Natal.
“Everyone qualifying to vote must be able to choose freely without fear of violence,” Mawela said.
Media enquiries:
Lieutenant General S M Makgale
Head: Corporate Communication
Cell: 082 778 3718
Tel: 012 393 2940/2630
E-mail: MakgaleSolomon@saps.gov.za
