Month: May 2024

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) has welcomed the arrest of two men who are believed to be behind the taxi-related strike which led to all major routes into Mthatha being blocked on Monday.

While police moved in swiftly to restore law and order on the day, they have also been working around the clock to trace those behind the incitement of violence.

On Thursday, the alleged instigators were traced to Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.

A member of a taxi association in the OR Tambo District, 52-year-old Mthuthuzeli Sogoni was wanted in relation to a voice note he allegedly circulated inciting violence and mobilising people not to vote.

This as South Africans went to the polls in the country’s seventh National and Provincial Elections on Wednesday.

The second accused is 47-year-old Ncebo Nkosi, who was arrested after he recorded a video of himself allegedly calling for taxi operators and owners to disrupt the elections and embark on violent protests.

The two men appeared in
the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court this morning on charges of inciting public violence, contravention of the Cybercrimes Act and contravention of the Electoral Act.

They are out on R3 000 bail each. Their case has been remanded to 22 July 2024.

The inflammatory messages shared by the pair were spread widely on various social media platforms.

‘The NATJOINTS has repeatedly warned social media users to refrain from posting and sharing inflammatory messages that could cause harm, mobilise communities to incite violence and engage in criminal acts,’ it said.

The NATJOINTS has also been consistent in assuring communities that law enforcement agencies would act decisively against those found to be on the wrong side of the law.

‘It is against this background that the NATJOINTS welcomes the decisive action taken against those who contravene the rule of law.

‘Members of the public are once again discouraged from sharing inflammatory messages that quite often redirect and divert police resources and personnel from att
ending to serious and violent related crimes,’ NATJOINTS said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Government has appealed to the public to remain calm as the counting and verification of votes by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) in the National and Provincial Elections is underway.

‘Citizens are encouraged to remain calm as this process unfolds. Vote counting is a rigorous process with various checks and balances by the IEC,’ Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) Acting Director-General (ADG), Nomonde Mnukwa, said on Thursday.

She said the length of the process depends on a range of factors including the number of votes cast and number of political parties contesting the ballot.

‘The IEC is being transparent in the manner in which the results are being captured and verified to ensure the integrity of the electoral processes is not compromised. The results are also audited by independent auditors and then released on the results system for political parties, observers and the media.

‘Parties themselves can verify the captured results against their copy of the original re
sults slip to ensure accuracy. Objections can be directed to the Electoral Commission in terms of Section 55 of Electoral Act and decisions of commission can be appealed at the Electoral Court,’ the ADG said.

By law, the election results must be declared within seven days after an election. The official election results will be announced by the IEC and this period ends on 5 June 2024.

‘Government reminds South Africans that the IEC is the only institution legally mandated to announce the election results. No other institution, analyst, political party or commentator has the legal directive to communicate the final outcome.

‘We call on all stakeholders to exercise caution in prematurely proclaiming the results. The IEC declaration of results is a statutorily requirement that formally ends the election. The process will then shift to the National Assembly,’ Mnukwa said.

Following the declaration of election results, members for the National Assembly are designated by the Electoral Commission, and the lists
are handed by the commission to the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, who then hands them over to Parliament through the Secretary of Parliament.

‘Before Members of the National Assembly perform their functions in the Assembly, they must swear or affirm faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution, in accordance with Schedule 2 to the Constitution.

‘The President of the Republic is the last to be elected by the House because the Assembly must be duly constituted first in order to exercise its power to elect the President. The Chief Justice also presides over the election of the President,’ the ADG said.

The election of the President, who is chosen among the Members of the Assembly, is conducted by the Chief Justice of the Republic.

‘Our role as active citizens does not end with voting; we are called to work together to move our nation forward. As a young democracy we have come a long way in our 30 years of freedom and democracy, and government remains committed to working to
gether with all citizens to build a better tomorrow for all,’ she said.

Mnukwa said South Africa’s seventh democratic general elections are an affirmation of the maturity and strength of the country’s democracy.

‘It signifies the vibrant commitment of the people to advancing our freedom and democracy. The citizens have honoured their civic responsibility to make their voices heard by freely voting for the party or candidate that best represents their interests and aspirations for our country,’ the ADG said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has appealed to the citizens in and around uMhlathuze Ward 14, in KwaZulu-Natal, to be on the lookout for an IEC branded ballot box, which went missing in transit from the voting station at Matamzana Dube School to the municipal electoral office for storage.

‘The ballots in the box have been counted, reconciled, and validated. The Electoral Commission is required, by law, to store ballots cast in general elections for a period of six months.

‘Furthermore, the IEC appeals to anyone who finds the ballot box to return it to us,’ said the commission said in a statement.

The IEC reminded South Africans that anyone found to be in possession of ballots was liable to criminal prosecution.

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had captured close to 55% of the ballots as of 9am on Friday.

According to the IEC results dashboard, the African National Congress (ANC) is taking the lead nationally, with 3 236 550 votes representing 42.07%.

The ANC is followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 1 821 912 at 23.68%, while the new kids on the block the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has already secured 832 178 at 10.82%.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which is currently the third biggest party in Parliament, is sitting at 9.58% with 737 238 votes.

Newcomer, the Patriotic Alliance (PA) is also making headway at position five with 211 738 at 2.75%.

These are currently the leading parties by voting station, as the IEC officials continue to capture the results in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.

The counting procedures have been concluded with only a few voting stations reported to still be counting at 3pm on Thursday.

‘The process of results compilation entails ensuring acc
uracy and validation of the results. This process involves scanning each result slip to create an image of the result, double-blind capture of each result slip, auditing of each result slip by independent auditors,’ the IEC said.

According to the commission, the resulting system was audited externally and the parties also had to verify them.

The results have been trickling in throughout the night, as capturing continues.

The IEC said last night they were sitting on a 58.69% voter turnout, hovering just below 60% of voters, with bigger stations’ results still to come in.

As per the IEC data, 27 782 777 people registered to vote, with 7 943 840 total votes cast.

Of these, 7 840 658 were valid, with 103 182 spoilt votes.

The results continue to be captured and displayed on the leaderboards at the Results Operations Centre in Midrand.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Minister of Police Bheki Cele has reiterated that police operations will continue until after the elections to ensure that citizens are safe.

Addressing members of the media at the Electoral Commission’s Results Operations Centre on Friday, the Minister said safety operations for the election period will end between 24 hours and 48 hours after the announcement of the election results.

‘We pulled all our resources together… National Treasury has provided a budget for transportation and accommodation of law enforcement officials and overtime payments. We have deployed more than 17 000 police officers from various provinces to KwaZulu-Natal to ensure the elections take place in a safe and secure environment,’ Cele said in Midrand at the National Results Operations Centre (ROC).

South Africans went to the polls on Wednesday to cast their votes in the 2024 General Elections, which are stated to be the most contested in the history of the country.

With reports of post-election violence doing the rounds, the Mi
nister assured citizens that authorities are on high alert to deal with any threats.

The Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security (JCPS) Cluster has been implementing coordinated and intelligence-led operations both pre- and during the elections, where multi-departmental teams work together to ensure that all South Africans are safe.

Coordination is managed by National and Provincial Joint Operational and Intelligence Structures of the JCPS Cluster and the Electoral Commission (IEC).

The Minister said these plans will continue post elections.

Further to this, interdepartmental priority committees were established in 2023 at both national and provincial level to look at safety and security planning.

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure did a thorough threat and crime pattern analysis which informed a security plan which ensures that ‘nothing is left to chance’.

The national security plan was approved by the various Ministers of the JCPS Cluster.

Source: South African Government News
Agency

With the second day of vote counting in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections still underway, the African National Congress (ANC) is currently taking the lead and continues to secure most of the votes in most provinces, except in KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

As at 11:45am on Friday, the leaderboard at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand, showed that the ANC was leading the votes in the Eastern Cape with 739 564, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) at 138 958, and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at 109 630.

A total of 67.65% vote capturing and processing had been completed in the Eastern Cape, including 3 293 of 4 868 voting districts completed.

The ANC was also taking a lead in the Free State with 336 267 votes, followed by the DA with 135 814, and EFF at 84 928. A total of 82.79% vote capturing had been completed in that province, including 1 313 of 1 586 voting districts completed.

In Gauteng, the ANC was leading with 663 401, DA 580 761, EFF 253 632, while the new k
ids on the block, Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party had secured 186 219 votes.

In Limpopo, the ANC had secured 530 882, EFF 91 411, and the DA 45 028. Limpopo had captured 47.57% votes including 1 530 of the 3 216 voting districts completed.

In the North West, a total of 58.295 votes had been captured, including 1 013 of the 1 738 voting districts completed, which showed the ANC leading with 279 283, followed by EFF 80 090, and DA 56 638.

A total of 63.22% votes had been captured in Mpumalanga with 1 145 of the 1 811 voting districts completed. The ANC in Mpumalanga had 344 794 votes followed by MK with 125 646 votes, DA 97 156, and EFF 93 452.

Counting in Northern Cape is almost complete with 99.86% votes captured, including 729 of 730 voting districts completed. The ANC in Northern Cape led with 194 373 votes, while DA had 83 809, and 51 813for the EFF.

In KwaZulu-Natal, which is among the most contested provinces, the MK is taking the lead with 625 363 votes, followed by ANC with 259 867, and Inkatha Freedo
m party (IFP) with 248 567, and DA with 200 493 votes.

Results continue to be captured and the leaderboard updated.

The IEC is expected to give the progress report on the elections at 4pm.

At a media briefing on Thursday, the Electoral Commission (IEC) announced that vote counting in the National and Provincial Elections 2024 has now been completed, and the process to capture and validate results was underway.

‘The process of results compilation entails ensuring accuracy and validation of the results.

This process involves scanning each result slip to create an image of the result, double blind capture of each result slip, and auditing of each result slip by independent auditors. The result system was audited externally and parties had occasion to also audit,’ the Commission’s Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said at the briefing.

Source: South African Government News Agency