A South African Police Service (SAPS) officer takes note of voters queuing outside a polling station. (Marco Rongali/AFP)
- Police have arrested 58 suspects across the country for election-related offences since voting began on Monday.
- Nearly 100 records have also been opened for election-related crimes, according to NatJoints.
- To keep track of the latest results, Election map.
Since Monday, when South Africans began heading to polling stations, police have arrested 58 suspects across the country and registered 98 case records for election-related offences.
Police arrested 29 suspects on Monday and Tuesday, the day of the special vote, and a further 29 suspects throughout Wednesday, according to the National Joint Operations Intelligence Agency (NatJoints).
National Joint Spokesperson Brigadier General Atrenda Mathe said the suspects were arrested on suspicion of violating the electoral law, including violence in a public place, intimidation, malicious damage to property and publishing completed ballot papers.
News24 reported on Thursday that several criminal cases had been filed on election day for election-related offences or crimes that occurred at polling stations.
In the North West, police spokesman Sabata Mokwabone said a criminal case had been opened against an ANC councillor who was “allegedly attempting to induce and influence people to vote for a particular party within the boundaries of a polling station”.
In the Free State, a 69-year-old woman was also arrested after allegedly removing a political party poster from a pillar in Sasolburg.
In a separate incident, another woman was arrested at a polling station in Sasolburg on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, after police said she caused a disturbance when officers approached her.
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In Gauteng, police were investigating two criminal cases involving a case where a person photographed a completed ballot at a polling station at Prinshof School in Pretoria.
A new case of electoral law breach occurred in Kempton Park after a voter allegedly voted in an area where he was not registered.
In the Western Cape, a person was arrested in Cape Town for allegedly attempting to vote twice.
Western Cape police commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile said the incident was recorded after a person attempted to vote for a second time at a polling station in central Cape Town.
He said the matter is under investigation.
News24 also reported that a man He was arrested and charged with possession of a dangerous weapon and resisting arrest following the incident at a polling station in Centurion.
Before being charged, the man was found in possession of a firearm just metres from the polling tent and was taken into police custody for questioning.
Read | Election Day chaos: From ballot selfies to assaults on police
“Officers and police personnel approached the man and requested a search. A replica firearm was found in the man's bag and he was taken to the nearest police station where he was questioned,” police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said.
Witness Lujan Visser told News24 he was waiting to vote when he heard a man screaming, allegedly yelling at officers that they could not search him without a warrant.
The man, who was within 10 metres of the voting tent, was eventually searched and a firearm was removed from a drawstring bag, he said.
“The man claimed it was a toy gun and that he had just bought it. The female officer asked him what he was going to do with it,” Visser said.
In Mpumalanga, Elkwatini SAPS has filed a case for malicious damage to state property following the incident at the Diepgeze polling station.
“According to reports, members of the South African Police Service were at a polling station when a man who had been consuming alcohol arrived and disrupted voting,” police spokesman Colonel Donald Mdluli said.
“He was asked to leave but he refused so members of the SAPS removed him. It was at this point that members took him to a police van.” [that] He kicked and damaged the taillight of a government vehicle.”