The spokesperson for the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the North West, Tumeloentle Thiba, confirms that a ballot box located in Ward 19 in the Ikageng township in Potchefstroom was indeed torched on Monday, May 6. Provincial police spokesperson, Sabata Mokgwabone, tells OFM News no arrests have been made in connection with the incident, but a case into the matter has been registered.

Mokgwabone cautions angry residents that they are within their rights to vent their frustrations but this “must not impede on other people’s right to vote”, he adds.

This as six people were arrested in Ganyesa on Monday, also for allegedly torching an electoral officer's vehicle on the day that special voting started. A ballot box was also reportedly torched. Mokgwabone says IEC officials are on the ground keeping an eye on the situation.

The National Police Commissioner, Khehla Sitole, is in Mahikeng today where he will visit some of the identified hotspots in the province ahead of the nation’s elections on Wednesday. Sitole is joined by a group of South African Police Service (Saps) officials on his visit. The visit comes less than a week after Police Minister, Bheki Cele, revealed in a Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster (JCPS) briefing on the state of readiness for the upcoming general elections, that the North West and KwaZulu -Natal have been identified as high-risk areas. The two towns in North West flagged by police as hotspots are Brits and Bloemhof.

OFM News