Security experts argue that the deployment of the army to specific crime hotspots will not improve the situation.
Gareth Newman, head of legal and violence prevention at the Institute of Security Studies, claims that the army cannot address the fundamental problems that cause crime.
His advice, which sounds logical, is that the police’s effectiveness must be improved. Army members are not trained to do policing and can only support the police.
If we look at performances of military members deployed in African countries as peacekeepers, the fear that it is going to be worse will be implemented.
Dr. Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus’s leader, said police minister Fikile Mbalula’s request that the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) be deployed to support the police in the Western Cape and certain parts of Gauteng is a recognition that crime is out of control.
“The SANDF’s assistance to the police is not unheard of, but certainly not desirable. South Africa is now back in the 1980s where soldiers and army vehicles had to patrol the townships to fight crime. This situation must be squarely on the shoulders of government, and especially on those of President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma.”
“The president sets up the national commissioner of police and all the appointments since 1999 (Jackie Selebi) have so far been a failure.”
“We are now reaping the bitter fruits of political hijacking of the intelligence institutions. Because these institutions do not fight crime but are used for political purposes, crime thrives in South Africa with the ordinary citizens who even have to pay with their lives. This is a further stain on the name of the government.”
“Drastic measures will have to be taken and intervention with the police because crime leads the country to the brink of anarchy,” said Dr. Groenewald.
Read the original article in Afrikaans on Die Vryburger
South Africa Today – South Africa News
