JOHANNESBURG - Law enforcement officials won’t be caught napping should threats of unrest materialise.
The MK Party had raised concerns about being provoked to some sort of action should their complaints about the IEC and the voting process not be addressed.
Its leader Jacob Zuma’s arrest in 2021 triggered ten days of civil unrest.
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But the Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security Cluster and the National Joint Operations and Intelligence Structure say they are ready to meet any threat head-on.
If there's one thing to come out of the JCPS cluster's joint media briefing with Natjoints, it's that there will be no engagement with Jacob Zuma or the MK Party on threats made about the release of the 2024 election results.
Defence Minister Thandi Modise said, “Have we engaged with the MK, no, we have not directly engaged with the MK Party.”
Instead, the ministers have left it to the IEC and Electoral Act to give guidance on elections-related grievances.
They’ve also made it clear that they will not tolerate an environment where one person’s right infringes on the majority’s.
Modise said, “If it's just a speech, as my colleague says it is just speech, then we will not raise hackles. But, once it gets to where people, are in danger, where the integrity of the state is endangered, then it becomes our business, we hope we will not go there.”
Modise admits government was late to act on possible threats of unrest in July 2021.
No such mistake will be made this time.
Police also dismissed claims by the MK Party that arrests relating to the IEC results board glitch had been made.