SOLDIERS and police have been allocated millions upon millions of dollars to fight crime that has plagued the people of this country.
The Minister of Finance, Mr. Enoch Godongwana, announced that R848 billion has been allocated to anti-crime agencies this financial year.
He said this while presenting the budget in Parliament yesterday.
Some of this money will be used by soldiers assigned to assist in crime-prone areas in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
“When the President (Cyril Ramaphosa) delivered his speech, he announced that he would deploy the military to assist in crime-prone areas. This will require money. That is why the money earmarked for anti-crime programs will increase. The money will increase from R268 billion to R291 billion.”
Godongwana said that the military and the police will also receive R1 billion per department from the money that comes from the anti-crime program.
“The military will also be given R2.7 billion so that they will be able to do their job well. This money will be used for things such as the maintenance of defense force planes.”
Godongwana said it was forcing them to get money to be used for the deployment of soldiers following Ramaphosa’s announcement.
“The law allows the President to deploy the military at any time. It doesn’t matter if the budget is there. If there is a war, the President deploys the military, he doesn’t ask if there is money or not. It is up to us to see where the money comes from. The laws agree that if there is an emergency we should try to get money. We will cooperate with the defense forces in this regard.”
Godongwana also revealed that the Boarder Management Authority is allocating R990 million to be used to hire more than 700 workers.