'Nobody is above the law. We will act,' says Ntshavheni on Zuma threats

Ministers in the security cluster have warned they will act against threats of unrest over the outcome of Wednesday's elections and are ready to respond should violence flare up. 

They were speaking at a briefing hours after former president and MK Party leader Jacob Zuma called for a halt to the process at a media briefing on the eve of the announcement of the election results.

He warned of “trouble” should his party's call not be heeded. Despite this, the presidency and IEC announced they are going ahead with the declaration as planned.

Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the cluster's duty is to ensure law and order in the country.

“We have to treat everybody in accordance with the provisions of the law, there is nobody above the law and there is no peacetime hero. We must be clear about that. If you threaten or attempt to threaten the stability of the republic, the law will have to take its course. We will respond to any incidents.”

Ntshavheni urged all parties to abide by the code of conduct and raise their disputes with the proper mechanisms in terms of the Electoral Act. 

“The MK Party, whatever their briefing raised — whether it be processes that are governed by the Electoral Act — does not involve any security cluster ministers or Natjoints engaging them.

“The MK Party must follow the provisions of the Electoral Act so that they can raise their disputes in line with what the act provides for. If there is any engagement, it will be between the IEC and the MK Party,” she said.

The minister said all political parties signed the code of conduct which prescribes how they must conduct themselves in terms of speech and how to raise their grievances.

“The bottom line is that there is a law and it provides dispute-raising mechanisms including objections which are governed by electoral law.”

Ntshavheni said it was not their duty to give running commentary on how they interpret an individual's views and comments but have the responsibility to act should any incidents unfold.

She said she understood the concerns considering the context of the July 2021 unrest and why the public needed assurance.

“There was a threat of a shutdown in March 2023. There was a threat that there will be no elections taking place and they did so peacefully.

“There were incidents of flare-ups but they took place before the day of the elections and were dealt with. If you don't trust those efforts and that delivery by law enforcement agencies and their capacity to deliver, I do not know what more you want.”

Police minister Bheki Cele said lessons were learnt during the July 2021 unrest and he had faith in the police to carry out their duties as prescribed.

“Our job is to enforce the law if you get out of line. We are not about to deviate from doing so. Anybody has a right, the constitution says so, they can march, protest in a prescribed manner to not be armed, not calling for war, not making threats against human beings and property.

“Another lesson we have learnt is that people that call for reaction get arrested, that's why 63 of them have court-going cases. One of them has been sentenced to 12 years, which shows that judges and magistrates are serious about the matter..”

Cele reported that the president had also appointed a commission “which revealed a strengthening of units like public order policing, which has been done”.

“They also raised the strengthening of crime intelligence, which has been done. There are many operations which are done by the police before they happen, like the shooting of criminals in their base — that is intelligence work.

“Even the rumoured shutdown did not happen. It was not because of a change of heart but because of the work of law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Defence minister Thandi Modise said the security cluster has not directly engaged with the MK Party but called for calm before the election.

“We have also asked people not to do that which is not legal in this country.

“We have not gone out of our way to speak to the MK Party. We are appealing to all parties and individuals in South Africa, we all have the same rights under the constitution of this country. Not only to exercise that constitution but to respect everybody's rights to exercise their own.,” she said.

“We are appealing to all parties involved to respect the laws of South Africa.

“South Africans have the right to make comments, freedom of speech is something we fought very hard for. But that freedom of speech has limits. When it starts putting the lives and property at risk then we become very interested,” Modise said.

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