Pretoria - The South African Police Service (SAPS) stands ready to assist in South Africa’s fifth democratic elections.
“We are working flat out to prepare for the elections and I can say that we are very ready,” National Police Commissioner General Riah Phiyega said on Monday.
In an SABC interview, the national commissioner said that the police service has scaled up its capacity in terms of operations.
“Last week I was with the minister [Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa] where we were passing out additional trainees from our local municipalities, who are going to support the current Public Order Policing (POP) capacity, to ensure that South Africans have a peaceful, election period,” she said.
Millions of South Africans have registered to vote on May 7 this year.
Last month, Cabinet applauded eligible South Africans for registering to vote.
Acting Cabinet spokesperson Phumla Williams said the executive welcomed the registration of over 80% of all eligible voters during the successful registration campaign by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).
“In the spirit of celebrating and commemorating 20 years of freedom, Cabinet commends the IEC, political parties and members of society, whose combined efforts ensured that more eligible voters registered,” said Williams.
The first 2014 Cabinet meeting held this week, further commended the active participation by eligible voters.
Farlam Commission
On allegations of a cover up on the tragic events at Marikana, whereby two witnesses have told the Farlam Commission that were told to lie about details of the shooting at Marikana in 2012, Phiyega said the police would address the matter.
Two separate witnesses have told the commission they were instructed to lie about details of the shooting at Lonmin's Marikana mine, in 2012.
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry, led by Judge Ian Farlam, had been appointed to probe the tragedy in Marikana, where more than 44 people were killed during a strike by miners.
“We as the police have fully cooperated with the commission. You’ll also be aware that many of our police have already given their testimony to the commission. We shall await our opportunity to respond to the allegations that have been made and indeed we shall do as truthfully as we’ve done [before],” said the commissioner. - SAnews.gov.za
