EASTERN CAPE - EC SAPS READY TO ENSURE PEACEFUL VOTING PROCESS AT 4699 POLLING STATIONS IN THE PROVINCE

The Provincial Commissioner of the SA Police Service in the Eastern Cape, Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga, today indicated that the SAPS in the Province is ready to deploy members throughout the province to ensure that the election process takes place peacefully at the 4 699 polling stations.

“I would like to assure members of the community that they will be safe when going to the polling stations. We completed our operational plan ahead of time and we are ready to deploy police members from 2 August 2016. All the areas where we experienced problems during Voter Registration Weekends will also be very closely monitored and additional personnel placed on standby in those areas. We have ensured that additional manpower and reserve forces are available to deal with any contingency or crisis that might require our intervention,” she said.

Our call for action to all Eastern Cape citizens is for them to go to their respective voting stations as early as possible on Election Day to avoid long queues and over-crowding. SAPS would also like to emphasize that we will not tolerate any form of criminality, intimidation, disruptive behaviour or disorderly conduct at the polling stations.

We urge members of the community not to take weapons of any kind to polling stations and to adhere to the instructions of the presiding officers at all times.

“I hereby declare that we are operationally ready to secure and safeguard the 2016 Local Government Elections. This by no means implies that day-to-day policing will be neglected. We shall continue to execute our policing mandate with the same resolve during this period,” she concluded.

VIA - saps.gov.za