The first day of casting special votes in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections (NPE) started on a sour note in Mpumalanga yesterday, with Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) officials allegedly receiving death threats and being intimidated in Hendrina.

Mpumalanga police have confirmed that a case of intimidation was opened at the Hendrina Police Station this morning against agents of two political parties.

The incident prompted provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Semakaleng Manamela and the premier, Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, to visit the affected voting station in KwaZamokuhle, located in the Steve Tshwete Municipality.

Mtshweni-Tsipane urged police to investigate the incident and to help maintain peaceful elections in the area.

She says conditions at all voting stations in Mpumalanga and the country should be conducive for citizens to exercise their constitutional right to elect their preferred candidates.

Anyone who intimidates voting officers is a threat to free and fair elections and must be arrested, she adds.

The acting Mpumalanga MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Busisiwe Shiba, says she is disappointed by a few incidents of intimidation directed at IEC staff and political parties and such behaviour must be condemned.

“The security cluster has identified hotspots as part of ensuring that all threats are accordingly eliminated to enable all voters to freely participate in these elections. The cluster will decisively deal with any person who threatens other people or officials working at various voting districts across the province.

“We are a democratic state where everybody’s right to freely vote should be respected regardless of their political convictions. We therefore wish to reassure the citizens that the security cluster is on high alert and plans are in place to ensure free and fair elections that will not be marred by violence and intimidation,” Shiba says.

Security agencies have been deployed to all voting districts in the province.

The NPE sees 14 903 candidates vying for 887 seats in the National and Provincial Legislatures. There are 27.79 million registered voters.