Policing the South African Elections

A briefing by the Institute for Security Studies detailing the security landscape and policing strategies for the 2009 South African general elections, highlighting specific areas of political tension and the deployment of police resources.

• Leading up to the April 22 elections, an election monitoring group recorded 40 incidents, primarily consisting of clashes or intimidation. Political tensions have been exacerbated by the emergence of COPE, a breakaway from the ANC, and ongoing rivalries between the ANC and the IFP.
• Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal has been the most severely affected area for political violence, featuring attacks by IFP supporters on ANC supporters. These incidents included the shooting of an ANC MP from the Zulu Royal family and his daughter-in-law, the stoning of six ANC supporters, and the shooting of an ANC regional chairperson by an alleged IFP councillor.
• The South African Police Service (SAPS) has implemented precautionary measures, including the mobilization of Public Order Police (POP) across all provinces. Due to reduced POP capacity in KwaZulu-Natal (650 members) and the concurrent IPL cricket tournament, the SAPS has deployed the National Intervention Unit and POP platoons from Gauteng, North West, and Limpopo to assist in KwaZulu-Natal, while putting Visible Police (VISPOL) on alert.
• The Ministry of Justice has created special prosecution units for election cases, and the National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has established an alert system for journalists. Police have also planned for potential violence if the ANC fails to secure a 2/3-majority in Parliament, though the author suggests any such violence would likely be minimal and localised.

APA

Omar, B. (2009). Policing the South African Elections. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/policing-the-south-african-elections

Chicago

Omar, Bilkis. Policing the South African Elections. Institute for Security Studies, 2009. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/policing-the-south-african-elections.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Omar |first1=Bilkis |title=Policing the South African Elections |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=20 April 2009 |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/policing-the-south-african-elections |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{omar2009policing, author = {Omar, Bilkis}, title = {{Policing the South African Elections}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2009}, month = apr, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/policing-the-south-african-elections}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }