Question NW3799 to the Minister of Police
16 November 2015 - NW3799
Redelinghuys, Mr MH to ask the Minister of Police
Whether SA Police Service officers receive specific training on the provisions of the (a) Electoral Act, Act 73 of 1998, and (b) Local Government: Municipal Electoral Act, Act 27 of 2000; if so, in each case, (i) what is the (aa) nature and (bb) content of the specified training and (ii) how many officers (aa) have been trained to date and (bb) are expected to complete such training before 1 February 2016?
Reply:
- & (b) Yes, the SA Police Service (SAPS) officers receive specific training to prepare them for National and Local Government elections in terms of the Electoral Act, Act 73 of 1998 and Municipal Electoral Act, Act 27 of 2000. The SAPS and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) work closely together in the preparation of the SAPS members for all elections. Regular meetings take place and progress is reported to the National Joint Operations Committee (NATJOC) and Election Priority Committee.
(i)(aa) & (bb) The SAPS Election Security training consists of the following:
Unit 1: An overview of the Electoral Commission
- Vision, Mission, Values and Mandate of the lEC
- Electoral operations
Unit 2 An overview of the National and Provincial Elections
- Acts and regulations that govern the elections in South Africa.
- Voting procedure
Unit 3 Stakeholders in a Voting Station
- Roles of electoral staff and stakeholders
Unit 4: Security for Elections
- Election Security Framework
- Obstruction of election officials
- Security Checklists for Electoral Operations and the Protection of Polling stations, IEC Buildings and the key personnel.
- Security Contingency Plan for Voting Stations
(ii)(aa) The following table reflects the number of members trained in the above-mentioned interventions since 2008.
|
TOTAL NUMBER OF MEMBERS TRAINED IN ELECTORAL ACT FOR PERIOD 2008 TO 2015 (Report date 2015-10-22) |
|||||||
|
|
FINANCIAL YEAR |
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|
COURSE DESCRIPTION |
2008/2009 |
2009/2010 |
2010/2011 |
2011/2012 |
2013/2014 |
2014/2015 |
TOTAL |
|
3448 ELECTORAL ACT ( ACT OF 1998 ) WORKSHOP |
1 968 |
825 |
3 135 |
23 132 |
903 |
46 350 |
76 313 |
|
3608 ELECTRORAL OFFI-CERS COURSE |
|
|
|
374 |
90 |
729 |
1193 |
|
3610 ELECTION ACT WORKSHOP (TRAIN THE TRAINER) |
|
|
63 |
46 |
976 |
240 |
1325 |
|
TOTAL |
1 968 |
825 |
3 198 |
23 552 |
1 969 |
47 319 |
78 831 |
(ii)(bb) The training of the master trainers will be done from January 2016 and all SAPS members earmarked for deployment at the 2016 Local Government Elections should be trained by the middle of May 2016.