The leader of the African Transformation Movement (ATM) has written to South Africa’s Parliament to request that President Cyril Ramaphosa redirect South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops to crime-ravaged areas such as Hillbrow, Berea, and Yeoville.
This week, amid the EFF-led national shutdown, a strong deployment of the army to protect the country’s national key points and infrastructure left South Africans disturbed, with many saying this was uncalled for.
In a letter sent to Parliament, Zungula said more than 3 400 army personnel at a cost of R166 million were deployed from March 17 to April 17 in response to a protest that did not pose a threat to anyone.
“Seeing that the deployment of the SANDF lapses on the 17th of April 2023 and that the state incurred an expenditure figure of R 166 million for this deployment, it would be fruitless and wasteful if the members of the SANDF were not deployed to areas such as Hillbrow and Sunnyside, where human trafficking, drug trafficking, hijacking of buildings, the production of counterfeit products, and many other crimes take place,” Zungula writes.
Zungula says the deployment of the army will not only help uproot drug and human trafficking in some of the country’s deadliest, former suburbs now turned slums, but it will also help eliminate the scourge of illegal mining in some of the mines across Gauteng and the North West where illegal immigrants, mostly believed to be from Lesotho, operate.
“The zama zamas are also notorious for shoot-outs involving rival gangs in the mining shafts, resulting in a spike in murder cases. A staggering 6 424 people were killed in South Africa in the period, which represents an increase of 664 murders compared to a year ago. These statistics cannot be left unaddressed,” he said.
