President Cyril Ramaphosa has informed Parliament that 10 000 soldiers will be deployed throughout the country to ensure a safe and secure environment during the local government elections on Monday.
Voting stations open at 7am and close at 9pm.
Special voting takes place this weekend.
Ramaphosa says the deployment will start from Saturday and run until the 3rd of November.
The deployment will cost R47 million.
In terms of the Constitution, the President is required to inform Parliament about the deployment of SANDF, the reasons for the deployment, the duration and the costs involved.
Hotspots
Earlier this week, Police Minister Bheki Cele said around 300 voting stations across the country have been identified as high-risk or hotspots.
Justice, Crime Prevention, and Security Cluster Ministers briefing on election hotspots:
He said the provinces of high concern, as identified by the National Joint Operations and Intelligence structure (Natjoints) and the Intelligence Coordinating Committee (ICC) are KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
Cele said these structures have looked at a number of factors to rank areas as low, medium, and high risk including what has transpired during the country’s registration weekend in September as well as ongoing political violence.
“Like your Ward 101 in eThekwini where the candidate has been shot, like in (Ward) 54 in eThekwini again where those three aunties were shot; like your ward in Kwadukuza where the candidate was shot. Thank God, (the candidate) survived; like in Mabopane. So, that tells the police that you need to have a form of a high understanding and put it on alert.”
