Ballot papers stolen, voters intimidated and party supporters brawling as police open 14 election cases

Ballot papers were stolen, voters were intimidated and supporters of rival parties fought as South Africans voted in the 2026 local government elections, with police now investigating about 14 election-related cases.

National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola gave the figure in a doorstep interview with the media at the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s Results Operations Centre in Midrand. As Sunday World reported on 5 November, most of the cases opened since Wednesday relate to the elections: theft of ballot papers, intimidation, and fighting where there is intolerance among political party members.

Masemola said police were also dealing with serious crimes reported earlier in the week, including murders in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.

Parts of eThekwini and uMkhanyakude in KwaZulu-Natal, along with certain areas in the Eastern and Western Cape, were identified as election hotspots needing heightened security.

In the Amathole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, police intervened after a protest over water grievances. Officers dispersed the protesters to allow voting to continue, Masemola said. He acknowledged communities’ right to raise concerns but said protests should not stop eligible voters from casting a ballot.

Despite the incidents, he maintained that voting had generally proceeded peacefully and that police were ready to respond to anything that could disrupt the process.

Masemola also addressed the political neutrality of officers on duty. Police are free to vote for the party of their choice in their personal capacity, he said, but may not wear party regalia while on duty because it could compromise the perception of their neutrality.

That instruction follows a separate controversy in KwaZulu-Natal, where a police sergeant was allegedly transported to a voting station in a vehicle displaying political party posters. The officer, deployed at a station in the Mphithini area of Donnybrook, has been precautionarily removed from election duties pending an investigation into her alleged conduct.

Separately, Director-General in the Presidency Phindile Baleni thanked South Africans for voting in numbers. She said local government is about the environment people live in and the basics of daily life: water, electricity, roads and the local economy.

Baleni said the right to participate in democracy carries the responsibility to vote, and that if people do not vote, the issues they care about will not be attended to.