Police say officers acted on the instructions of presiding officers in two specific incidents which gained a fair amount of attention on voting day.
Early on Monday Newzroom Afrika journalist Ziniko Mhlaba was briefly detained after he was accused of somehow distracting an IEC official in Soweto.
[BREAKING NEWS] #Newzroom405‘s Journalist detained by cops during #LGE2021 coverage.
Tune into channel 405 for more details on this story.#Vote21 pic.twitter.com/wXFR1q74a3
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) November 1, 2021
Hours later in Nelson Mandela Bay, DA federal leader Helen Zille was frog-marched out of a voting station after she was accused of canvassing in the queue. She denied the accusation.
DA federal council chair Helen Zille was dragged out of the Fernwood Primary School voting station in Bethelsdorp by the police on Monday.
Read more: https://t.co/occNWbI7po pic.twitter.com/1MPNGVM6Rz— HeraldLIVE (@HeraldNMB) November 1, 2021
Both incidents are being investigated and the police’s Vish Naidoo said officers took their cue from IEC officials on site.
“In both of these incidents, the initial reports suggest that the police officers acted on the instruction of the presiding officers, and we were hoping that the IEC would come and give their side of the story, which obviously would have changed the perceptions and perspectives of what had transpired. Maybe the IEC will come at some point and provide a statement for the investigations,” said Naidoo.
-EWN
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