South Africa will deploy troops for a year to provinces struggling to curb rampant crime and illegal mining, according to a mission plan tabled in parliament on Wednesday.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment last month, calling organized crime “the most immediate threat” to South Africa's democracy and economic development.
According to the plan presented to parliament's policing committees, troops are scheduled to move to the affected provinces this month, with the mission scheduled to last until March 31 next year.
The operation will cover five of the country's nine provinces, including the Western Cape and tourist hub Cape Town, which is notorious for deadly gang violence on its outskirts.
But with no boots on the ground yet, mission-readiness training and the establishment of a joint command structure still had to occur before the deployment could begin.
Maj. Gen. Mark Henkel said, “It takes time. This is not something that happens immediately or overnight.”
The plan has been criticized by experts and the opposition, who have said troops lack policing skills and warned that the costly move represents an admission that police are failing to prevent violent crime.
Acting Police Minister Firoz Kachaliya defended the mission, saying it would create space for the implementation of a comprehensive organized crime strategy.
“The deployment of the South African National Defense Force is not being presented as a panacea, a magic bullet,” he told MPs.
“One way to think about it is that this country is in its FBI moment. We need a new paradigm.”
Excluding war-torn countries, South Africa has the world's highest murder rate, with an average of 60 murders recorded every day.
The violence is exacerbated by the presence of thousands of illegal miners searching for leftover gold ore, often under the control of gangs who are battling for access to abandoned mines in several provinces, including Gauteng, home of the financial capital Johannesburg.
From imposing strict COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 to deploying troops during deadly riots sparked by the jailing of former President Jacob Zuma in 2021, South Africa has repeatedly turned to the military in times of crisis.
Soldiers were also sent into the streets after incidents of truck burning raised fears of widespread unrest in 2023.
In 2019, approximately 1,300 soldiers were deployed to support police in the gang-infested Cape Flats areas around Cape Town.