South Africa to deploy troops to crime hotspots within 10 days

Crime-weary South Africa will deploy army units alongside police within 10 days to tackle rampant crime fuelled by drugs gangs and illegal miners, the police minister said Tuesday.

The move marks the latest in a series of tough measures by government to contain rampant crime in a country with one of the world’s highest murder rates, averaging about 60 killings a day.

Army and police chiefs have finalised “the deployment plan which will begin in the next 10 days”, acting police minister Firoz Cachalia told parliament.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment in a national address last week, saying troops would be sent to the Western Cape — home to tourist magnet Cape Town — and Gauteng, which includes the financial hub Johannesburg.

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

Parts of Cape Town are gripped by a deadly rivalry between drug gangs fighting for turf while illegal miners are active in the former gold fields of Gauteng.

Cachalia said the army operation would be extended to the Eastern Cape, another province grappling with entrenched gang activity and drug-related crime.

The plan has drawn criticism from some security experts and opposition parties, who argue that soldiers are not trained for policing duties.

There have also been questions about the cost of the deployment and charges that the move amounts to an admission that the police have failed to curb violent crime.

Sending in the army as a short-term measure “will not reduce the 64 murders that take place every single day in this country”, the leader of the liberal Build One South Africa party, Mmusi Maimane, told parliament at the session attended by Ramaphosa.