The police’s elite crime intelligence unit circulated a confidential memo to district commissioners in KZN, a province where former president Jacob Zuma warned them of “possible nationwide protests” between May and June. Picture: SAPS
Durban — The police are on high alert and have devised a secret plan to quell any would-be protests should the Jacob Zuma-led Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) fail to win KwaZulu-Natal.
Speculation is rife that the MKP supporters would go on the rampage if the results of the fiercely contested national polls on Wednesday (tomorrow) go against the party formed in September and endorsed by former president Zuma in December.
To counter this, the police’s elite crime intelligence unit circulated a confidential memo to district commissioners in KZN, a province where Zuma warned them of “possible nationwide protests” between May and June.
“Information received indicates that possible nationwide MKP protest action is anticipated to take place nationwide during the months of May and June 2024,” read the confidential memo.
“Further information indicates that the risk of intimidation, malicious damage to property, arson, barricading of roads, looting, hijacking of trucks as well as clashes between members of the MKP, opposing parties and with the authorities is high, should demonstrations take place.”
Two senior police officers in KZN, who are not authorised to talk to the media, confirmed to the Daily News the existence of the document.
The report cited at least 53 suburbs across the province that were likely to be scenes of chaos should the MKP take to the streets. Durban Central, Phoenix, Reservoir Hills and uMlazi have been identified as potential hot spots.
Many cities in northern KZN like Richards Bay, Mtubatuba and Pongola in the far north of the province were also identified.
In the south of the province, cities like Port Shepstone and Margate are also tipped as protest hot spots.
The MKP has already hurled claims of alleged vote-rigging against the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) after its members “found” the commission’s staffers delivering ballot boxes to the Mpumalanga Library in Hammarsdale, west of Durban, on Saturday.
Responding, the IEC said what happened in Hammarsdale was a normal procedure. The commission lashed out at MKP supporters who stormed its warehouses where voting materials, such as ballot papers, were stored.
The special voting started on Monday, with the national elections on Wednesday (tomorrow), where more than 27 million voters were expected to head to the country’s 4 974 polling stations.
A stiff contest was expected to play out in KZN – where the ANC was expected to lose the province it had governed since 2004 after toppling its rival, the IFP. Upping the stakes was Zuma’s decision to dump his decades-long political home, the ANC, and back the MK Party.
Zuma had repeatedly said his new party was aiming for a two-thirds majority victory, a feat that was only achieved by the ANC in 2004 when former president Thabo Mbeki was president of the governing party.
With the MKP locked in a fractious leadership squabble between Zuma and expelled founder Jabulani Khumalo, it remains to be seen whether the party would emerge victorious at the polls, the fiercest since the first democratic elections in 1994.
On Friday, provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi had to intervene and broker a deal with the taxi owners who decided to block the busy N3 near Westville with trucks and taxis.
At the core of their grievances was being “overly” penalised by the Durban metro police when their vehicles were impounded and the delays in issuing of permits by the KZN transport department.
A subsequent meeting was held between Mkhwanazi, the transport department and irate taxi owners to map a way forward.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda could not be drawn on the internal memo; instead, he directed the Daily News to a media statement about the official send-off of the last contingent of police at the SAPS’s provincial head office in Durban on Monday.
The police announced last week that 17 000 officers are to be deployed to KZN to ensure “safe and fair” elections.
On Monday, the SAPS announced the deployment of additional Public Order Policing members to different parts of KZN and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape to bolster law enforcement agencies’ deployments and intensify crime-combating efforts in the two provinces.
“These officers will add to the existing capacity of members in these provinces, to ensure that voting takes place in a safe and secure environment.”
The MKP had not responded to the Daily News’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Violence monitor Mary de Haas said there was a likelihood there would be disruptions at the polls.
“It will be a test for police today. We don’t even know whether the Public Order Policing has been properly upskilled or if the police will be able to manage the crowd during the elections,” she said.
The arrest of Zuma in July 2021 for defying a Constitutional Court order triggered unrest in KZN and Gauteng, leading to more than 350 deaths. The looting led to more than R50 billion in economic damage and losses.
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