The Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (JOINTS) comprising of various government departments including the SAPS, the SANDF, Traffic, the Intelligence community, together with the city of Cape Town have today briefed the Acting National Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkwanazi on its state of readiness.
The objective of the Plan is to ensure the implementation of uncompromising security measures, to limit the probability of critical incidents occurring, and in the unlikely event they do – to limit the impact of such an incident through contingency planning.
The operation will primarily entail the high visibility of the various security forces in uniform and some in civilian clothes patrolling in vehicles, on foot, on bicycles, motor bikes and horseback. We have also made adequate provision for air support. In addition to this our VIP Protection Unit will also be deployed to ensure the smooth movement of VIP’s and to also ensure a smooth running of the event.
Thus far the community of Cape Town has been extremely cooperative particularly with the road closures around the vicinity of Parliament to allow for rehearsals for the Grand Parade. These road closures will again be implemented from 06h00 on Thursday, 9 February 2012 as per the attached schedule. Furthermore, there will also be a 20 kilometre radius of restricted airspace to ensure that no potential air threats may arise before, during and shortly after the event. Should any aircraft encroach into the restricted airspace, we have made provisions to deal with such a situation effectively.
The deployment of security forces for the Opening of Parliament is over and above our normal day-to-day policing in and around the city of Cape Town. This deployment will essentially compliment our normal day-to-day policing and this generally helps reduce reaction times quite significantly in the unlikely event any incident should occur. Therefore, it cannot be over emphasised that security in any of the surrounding areas is in no way being compromised.
We have also taken into consideration threats such as unplanned or unannounced marches or demonstrations for which we will deploy our expertly trained crowd management personnel that will be supported by other relevant units to ensure that such actions are undertaken peacefully and within the limitations of the law. To this end, we will also be adopting a zero tolerance to both criminality in general and any activity which may have the potential of disrupting this event.
Enquiries:
Colonel Vishnu Naidoo
Tel: 012 400 6573
Cell: 082 567 4153
JOINTS security team ready to police the Opening of National Parliament
