Deputy defence minister and UDM leader Bantu Holomisa says the army will play a bigger role in supporting the police, tackling other serious crimes beyond illegal mining and gangsterism.
The SANDF’s deployment to crime hotspots in the Western Cape and Gauteng could be the beginning of a broader deployment of the military to assist the police in dealing with crime in the country, Holomisa told the Sunday Times.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that he has decided to deploy the army to help the police in fighting gangsterism in the Western Cape and illegal mining in Gauteng.
Over and above dealing with illegal mining and gangsterism, the army was likely to be deployed to deal with other serious crimes including illegal immigrants, based on concerns that were raised by the security cluster, whose intelligence revealed that lawlessness was getting out of hand.
“We are restoring law and order. And it’s clear that this operation will ... end up getting involved in other crucial areas,” he said.
“For instance, look at our national key points — we are already protecting Eskom. We are also building one of the major operations in the Eastern Cape, along the N2; and we can deploy them against the construction mafia, because we cannot fold our arms when billions are going to be wasted.”
If it’s going to last for three to six months, it’s going to need financial backup, because we have to consider where these troops will stay. Do we have a military base where they are going to be stationed? Will we use troops that are closer to the hotspots?
— Bantu Holomisa, deputy defence minister
Holomisa said he believed Ramaphosa had taken the first critical step in dealing with the crime crisis. He said the protection of national key points, including railways, was likely going to feature prominently in this approach to confronting crime.
“No more nonsense will be allowed. No more chance-takers. This is an opportunity for the president to crack down on lawlessness. I see it as a first phase in confronting criminals.”
Ramaphosa’s announcement comes against the backdrop of the GNU leaders’ retreat in November, where the heads of the 10 parties in the GNU held talks about the worrying levels of crime, among other issues.
Both Holomisa and Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi expressed concern about the cost of an indefinite deployment of the army.
While Zibi said it was likely to cost more than R1.5bn, Holomisa said mechanisms were being looked at to ensure costs were contained. These, he said, included ensuring generals did not deploy soldiers from different provinces but instead used those stationed nearby.
“If it’s going to last for three to six months, it’s going to need financial backup, because we have to consider where these troops will stay,” Holomisa said. “Do we have a military base where they are going to be stationed? Will we use troops that are closer to the hotspots?
“You have to have tents, kitchens, ablution blocks — but if the hotspots are around Cape Town, then we might have to use troops who are in surrounding military bases.”
Zibi said he was not in favour of the deployment of the military, mainly because of the cost.
The money could instead be used to fill vacancies in the Hawks.
“I’m not a fan of it ... Because it costs R3,000 per soldier per day to put them on patrol,” Zibi said. “The defence force is underfunded, so it’s not an efficient way of using money.
“The Hawks have a 50% vacancy rate; you’re going to spend R3,000 per soldier per day while you can’t fill those vacancies. And it’s an indefinite deployment. So you’re going to spend billions. The Hawks have only two chartered accountants at management level nationally, just two — yet they’re supposed to fight crime.”
Zibi confirmed that these were some of the concerns discussed during the GNU leaders’ summit in November.
It was in this session that the re-vetting and possible removal of senior police and prosecutions officials was first discussed.
Justice minister Mmamoloko Kubayi said the re-vetting — which will start immediately — will go beyond police and metro police officials, as announced by Ramaphosa.
“We will be requesting all ministers to ensure that there is re-vetting of senior officials across the justice value chain, because if we are going to fight organised crime, it’s not only dependent on the police but also on prosecutors and others,” Kubayi said.
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