The Eastern Cape Provincial Government will deal decisively with those responsible for voice notes and videos on social media calling for a shutdown as the elections get under way, it says.
This follows an outbreak of taxi violence in the province last week, with threats to people’s democratic right as they participate in the elections.
In a statement issued yesterday, transport and community safety MEC Xolile Nqatha says there will be no shutdown.
Nqatha also directed the police to track down and bring to justice those using social media to intimidate, incite violence and threaten people’s democratic rights.
“The most recent of these social media posts is a brazen video recording by a man, allegedly who calls for a complete shutdown of Mthatha; a stop of election campaigns in and around Mthatha, less than 48 hours before the elections. The call comes after the police confiscated pistols and assault rifles following the resurgence of taxi violence in the Mthatha, Tsolo and Maclear areas.”
Nqatha described these as selfish, immature and irresponsible acts that seek to undermine the rule of law in the province, and in Mthatha, in particular.
“The utterances of the man who recorded the video in particular are an insult to the sacrifices of many of our liberation struggle heroes and heroines.”
Meanwhile, in his newsletter, president Cyril Ramaphosa called on South Africans to unite for free, fair and peaceful elections.
“Holding free, fair and peaceful elections is a barometer of the good health of our democracy. As we cast our votes on Wednesday, let us, in the words of our Constitution, ‘honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land, respect those who have worked to build and develop our country, and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity’.
“Let us hold another election that is peaceful, that is free, that is fair and that is a credit to all the elections we have held since 1994. Let it be that the ultimate winner of this election is South Africa, our democracy, and you, the South African people.”
South Africans will go to the polls tomorrow, voting for leaders in government for the seventh administration.Some 27 million eligible South Africans have been registered to vote in this year’s elections.
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