Ramaphosa says he won t allow anarchy and mayhem as unrest ebbs defenceweb.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from defenceweb.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Mapisa-Nqakula: Security cluster was nearly caught with its pants down Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said President Cyril Ramaphosa was unhappy that only 2,500 soldiers had been deployed and proposed 10,000. An SANDF soldier on patrol in Alexandra on 13 July 2021 following days of rioting and looting in the township. Picture: Boikhutso Ntsoko/Eyewitness News
17 hours ago
CAPE TOWN - The number of soldiers deployed to help quash rampant looting and arson in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal is set to be increased ten-fold.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she had asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to order the deployment of 25,000 soldiers in the strife-torn provinces.
The minister was addressing Parliament’s joint Standing Committee on Defence on Wednesday night.
Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was praised by MPs when she told a parliamentary portfolio committee on Wednesday that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) will increase its deployment to trouble spots to 25,000. This is the SANDF’s biggest deployment since 1994, according to Darren Olivier, director at African Defence Review.
He pointed out on Twitter that this number “means reaching to the very back of the cupboard and taking everything that can move, no matter the cost or sustainability. It leaves nothing in reserve & halts all other SANDF duties & commitments. It’s a reflection of just how desperate things are.”
Some opposition MPs have requested a deployment of 75,000, which was a number incorrectly mentioned before as the deployment during the Level 5 lockdown, but Mapisa-Nqakula said 25,000 was a compromise and up from the 10,000 troops the SANDF originally planned to deploy.
Violence was triggered by the jailing of ex-president Jacob Zuma last week
Protests widened into an orgy of looting and an outpouring of anger over the hardship and inequality that persist in South Africa 27 years after the end of apartheid
More than 70 people have been killed in the unrest, the worst in South Africa for years, and hundreds of businesses wrecked
Durban: South Africa plans to deploy up to 25,000 soldiers in two provinces where security forces are struggling to quell days of looting, arson and violence, its defence minister told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday, according to local news channel eNCA.
South African military to deploy 25,000 soldiers to deal with looting and riots
South Africa is increasing by tenfold the number of troops deployed to combat widespread violence sparked by the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma. 15 July 2021
South Africa is deploying up to 25,000 soldiers in two provinces where security forces are struggling to quell looting, arson and violence.
A military surge of that size would increase tenfold the number of soldiers deployed in the hotspots of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces, where the police and army have been battling unrest for days. We have now submitted a request for deployment of 25,000 members, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said.