Police brass check Grahamstown voting stations before Sarah Baartman district casts its ballots

Police management in the Eastern Cape have inspected election preparations in the Sarah Baartman District ahead of the 2026 local government election, with the Grahamstown station commander presenting his station’s state of readiness for the vote.

The Acting Divisional Commissioner for Inspectorate, Lieutenant General L Nkhuoa, made the visit. He was accompanied by the Provincial Head for Organisational Management, Brigadier MB Bibi. Colonel M Pika, the Station Commander for Grahamstown, presented the readiness position for his policing area.

Nkhuoa used the visit to press a single point on the officers who will police the vote: every SAPS member has to know the electoral regulations that govern the voting process. Management was told to make sure those provisions are communicated regularly, at parade briefings and during operational engagements.

The purpose, according to the police service, is to prevent any contravention of the regulations and to protect the integrity, secrecy and credibility of the electoral process.

The visit is part of the police service’s build-up to the local government election, when stations across the district will handle crowd control, escort ballot material and respond to complaints at voting stations. The post did not set out how many officers will be deployed in the district, which voting stations were visited, or what shortcomings, if any, the readiness presentation identified.