South Africa’s political parties largely welcome troop deployment

South Africa’s political parties have largely welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s decision to deploy troops to help police fight gang violence and illegal mining in two different provinces.

Speaking during the annual State of the Nation address in Cape Town on Thursday, he said organised crime is the biggest threat to the country.

South Africa’s high murder rate of around 60 deaths a day includes killings in wars between gangs in Cape Town and mass shootings linked to illegal mining in the Johannesburg area.

“Organised crime is now the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society, and our economic development,” said Ramaphosa.

He added that crime was being felt in the loss of life, the fear that permeates society, and the reluctance of businesses to invest.

“I have directed the Minister of Police and the SANDF [South African National Defence Force] to develop a tactical plan on where our security forces should be deployed within the next few days in the Western Cape and Gauteng,” he said.

Other measures to fight crime included recruiting 5,500 police officers and boosting intelligence while identifying priority crime syndicates.

While the announcement has received praise across political lines, the party of controversial former president Jacob Zuma, did raise some concerns.

“Systematically, defence force funding has been reduced. So, as we speak they can’t perfect their deployment,” said Des van Rooyen, acting leader of the uMkhonto weSizwe party.

“So this undertaking of deploying [troops] to deal with illegal miners without telling us where we will be getting the resources to empower them, truly speaking, is laughable.”

The Democratic Alliance, the country’s second largest party, and member of the current government of national unity, said the president had made the right call.

“I’m sure the city [Cape Town] and province [Western Cape] will welcome the extra resources that is going to be required,” said DA leader John Steenhuisen.

“But obviously it has to be done under the management of the SAPS [police force]. The military can’t perform policing functions on their own. They’re required to be coordinated under the command of the SAPS,” he said.

Speaking about trade, Ramaphosa said amid the current turmoil in the global economy South Africa aims to grow and strengthen its international partnerships.

Gustavo de Carvalho, a public policy researcher at SA Institute of International Affairs, said he thinks Ramphosa was referencing current global complexities.

Notably there are increased rivalries, he said, and the thorny issue of South Africa’s difficult relationship with the United States under President Donald Trump.

“What I think what was important there was a very direct process of diversification of relations, which at the moment is an important process of reducing risks,” he said.

While Ramaphosa said the economy had “turned a corner”, he acknowledged it needed to grow faster to tackle deep-seated social issues.

He conceded that his government had to get a grip on service delivery, particularly in the water sector which frequently has outages impacting millions of people.

Ramaphosa announced almost $10 billion in public funding over the next three years to upgrade crumbling water infrastructure.