For millions of South Africans, Wednesday, 4 November is the day they choose who runs their local councils, and the country’s security structures intend to make sure nothing stands between them and the ballot box. NATJOINTS, the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, has delivered a blunt message to political parties, community organisations and ordinary voters alike: campaigning ends at midnight on Tuesday, and anyone who marches, demonstrates or pressures voters on Voting Day will be breaking the law.
Speaking to the media at the NATJOINTS Coordinating Centre in Tshwane on Sunday, the structure’s chairperson, Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili, set out the timetable in plain terms. Tuesday midnight marks the final moment of campaigning under the electoral timetable, with every rally and campaign event required to wind up by the end of that day. From then until polls close, no political persuasion of any kind is allowed.
The general was equally direct about those who ignore the rule. “You march, you commit a crime, and it will be responded to accordingly by the deployed law enforcement that is on the ground,” she said, adding that she would not encourage anyone to embark on protest action. Intimidation, coercion or attempts to sway voters toward a particular party are offences under the Electoral Act, and no marches or demonstrations will be tolerated on the day itself.
The warning sits within a wider security effort meant to shield the people at the heart of the election: the voters queuing at polling stations, the officials handing out ballots, and the stations themselves. NATJOINTS says enough law enforcement personnel have been sent to every province, with deployments shaped by intelligence assessments and threats identified in advance. Police stations, meanwhile, will stay open throughout the electoral period to take complaints, respond to emergencies, investigate crime and keep order.
The Security Cluster has also asked the public to steer clear of unnecessary gatherings near voting stations, stressing that no person or organisation has the right to block access to a voting station, threaten electoral officials or frighten voters. Grievances over service delivery, employment and access to basic services are real, the cluster acknowledged, but they must be pursued through proper channels rather than used to disrupt an election or trample on other people’s democratic rights.
In KwaZulu-Natal, the briefing touched on recent protest developments and compliance with an interim order from the Durban High Court in the matter involving the Minister of Police and March and March. That order does not ban peaceful, unarmed protest, but it does restrict conduct that endangers public safety, including intimidation, violence, damage to property, road blockages and incitement to violence. It regulates designated march routes and times, requires identifiable marshals, and bars demonstrations within 100 metres of voting stations while voting, counting and the announcement of results are under way. Access to voting stations, electoral officials, voters and election materials must remain clear at all times.
For NATJOINTS, the point of all this is reassurance rather than restriction. The deployments, the structure reiterated, exist to protect life, property and the constitutional rights of every South African, not to intimidate communities or shut down democratic participation.
Voters who want to cast their ballot early will have the chance to do so before the main day. At an earlier media briefing, the Electoral Commission of South Africa confirmed it was ready to administer special voting on Monday and Tuesday, ahead of the local government elections on Wednesday, 4 November. The Commission called on all stakeholders to respect the integrity of the process and to refrain from any conduct that could intimidate voters or officials, obstruct voting, or interfere with approved home-visit routes and election materials.
The message to voters, in the end, is simple: the ground has been secured, the rules are clear, and the choice on Wednesday belongs to them alone. Whether the queues stay calm and the warnings hold may well depend on how those grievances in KwaZulu-Natal are carried into the week ahead.