Thousands of police officers deployed ahead of KZN local elections day
With KwaZulu-Natal having borne the brunt of pre-election violence, nearly 15 000 trained South African Police Service personnel are being deployed across the province to ensure safety and peace on election day.
KZN Community Safety and Liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda addressed hundreds of law enforcement officials who gathered in Durban earlier today before going off to the 4795 polling stations in the province in preparation for Wednesday's election.
Kaunda says in addition 170 defence force members will be on standby in the province.
"The SAPS maintains 13 deployments in 162 high risk voting stations. We believe this will ensure the prevention of politicalrelated violence. We want the SAPS to ensure all routes to and from voting stations are safe such and that escort is provided for IEC sensitive material such as ballot papers," he said.
MEC for Cooperative Governance Nomusa Dube-Ncube says security is an integral part of the electoral process.