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Government has deployed enough security personnel in KwaZulu-Natal’s volatile areas to quell any politically-motivated violence during and after Wednesday’s elections.

Speaking to Sapa in Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday, provincial safety MEC Bheki Cele said his assessment had shown that security personnel would be able to contain any possible election-related violence in the hotspots.

Nongoma, Estcourt, Ulundi, KwaDukuza, Greytown, Umsinga and hostels were identified as hotspots by security cluster ministers who spent six weeks assessing South Africa’s state of readiness for the elections.

“Security personnel including the intelligence have been keeping a watchful eye on the hotspots and we are confident that they will manage to contain any acts of violence,” said Cele.

He said 270 police officers had been deployed in Nongoma and more than 200 in Ulundi. The two areas are Inkatha Freedom Party strongholds.

They had experienced tension between IFP and African National Congress members in the past few months.

Members of the national intervention police unit and the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) were deployed in Nongoma after the eruption of tensions between the IFP and ANC in January.

Cele said 60 members of the unit had been deployed in Nongoma, 20 in Ulundi. Some 40 SANDF members had been deployed to monitor the situation in both areas.

The unit had so far arrested 60 suspects on election-related matters and seized 25 illegal firearms including three AK-47s.

“We are happy with their achievement so far and this makes us believe that elections will be held freely,” said Cele.

He said the SA Police Service (SAPS) was using a helicopter and a small aircraft to monitor the situation in Nongoma and Ulundi.

Army helicopters were also flying in two areas on Tuesday.

The situation in Nongoma and Ulundi looked calm on Tuesday and there were no reports of tensions as the police carried out their daily operations.

Nongoma was identified as one of the hotspots after a member of the Zulu royal family and an ANC MP, Prince Zeblon Zulu and his daughter-in-law, Dorris Zulu, were shot and wounded immediately after leaving an ANC rally in Nongoma in February.

Six ANC members were also injured when the buses they were travelling in were hit by stones.

ANC chairman of the Nongoma sub-region, Bongani Ngcobo, was shot at the ANC office in that area. He was hit in both legs.

Some people are unhappy about the deployment of security personnel in Nongoma and Ulundi.

IFP leaders complained they were deployed by an ANC government to intimidate IFP supporters ahead of the elections.

The party complained that its secretary-general Musa Zondi was manhandled by the SAPS on Tuesday while taking his party's election campaign to Nongoma.

On Tuesday, scores of election observers were monitoring the situation in Nongoma and Ulundi. Cele visited polling stations on Tuesday and he will remain in the area until Friday.