321 voting stations flagged high-risk as South Africans vote, police say no major incidents

South Africans are voting at 321 stations that police had already flagged as high-risk, and by 11am on Wednesday the South African Police Service said no major incidents had been reported at any of them.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the stations were identified from intelligence about the potential for instability linked to community protests or service delivery issues.

“When we identify a station as a high-risk station. we make sure that we deploy and operationally, we ensure that there is sufficient measures in place to prevent any eventuality,” Mathe said.

She was speaking in an interview with the Government Communications and Information Centre at the National Results Operation Centre on Wednesday, as voting stations across the country opened for the 2026 Local Government Elections.

“Well, in terms of security deployments, we’re quite confident that the measures that we’ve put in place are sufficient and adequate to ensure free, fair and safe elections,” Mathe said. “Security has been tightened … we have put the necessary measures in place.”

Public order policing units and roving teams are on standby, with operations coordinated through the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, which gives police an overview of incidents across all nine provinces.

“The NATJOINTS allows us to have a bird’s-eye view. so whenever an incident is reported, we can consolidate the necessary response to proactively and quickly respond and contain a particular issue,” Mathe said.

On misinformation circulating around the vote, Mathe urged voters to check information before sharing it. “Most of the time we discourage it because it really causes unnecessary panic. Our teams are on the ground. You will cast your vote in a safe and secure environment. I think that the NATJOINTS has a very good track record of ensuring that elections are hosted in a safe and secure environment,” she said.

The account is carried from a SAnews (South African Government News Agency) report of Mathe’s interview, which summarises her remarks rather than reproducing a full transcript. The police’s confidence statement covers the position reported up to 11am, and no further incident figures were given in the material.

Source: SAnews (South African Government News Agency), https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/saps-confident-security-measures