(Archive photo: Henk Kruger/ANA)
The army will apparently be deployed for a year in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng to assist the police in their fight against gang violence in these provinces.
Soldiers are expected to be sent to the relevant provinces this month with the deployment scheduled to last until March 31 next year, according to the plan presented to the parliamentary committee on police.
There still needs to be further training and a joint command structure established, before soldiers can be deployed to the respective provinces.
(Archive photo: SANW)
“It takes time. It is not something that happens immediately or overnight,” said Gen. Maj. Mark Hankel, a former acting head of the police’s crime intelligence unit, said about the deployment.
Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa announced the planned deployment in his state of the nation address. However, this plan of the government is criticized by some.
Some experts believe that the army does not have sufficient policing skills and warn that with the deployment it is finally recognized that the police are not managing to stop violent crime.
Also read: Soldiers in the streets: Army can help, but only just temporary
Firoz Cachalia, Acting Minister of Police, however, defended the deployment and said it creates space for the roll-out of a broader strategy for organized crime.
“The deployment of the South African National Defense Force is not presented as a panacea, a magic bullet,” Cachalia recently told lawmakers.
“One way to think about this is that this country is in its FBI moment. We need a new paradigm.”