SANDF deployment supports policing, not a solution to crime: Cachalia

Police are seen alongside members of the army in Cape Town as part of efforts to fight crime in this image captured on 01 April 2026.

The Acting Police Minister, Professor Firoz Cachalia, says the deployment of soldiers in some provinces to assist police cannot be seen as a remedy to eradicate crime.

Cachalia is leading a delegation of the South African Police Service briefing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police about the 2026/27 Budget and Annual Performance Plan, including their Strategic Plan.

He says the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is meant to support police in crime-ridden areas ravaged by gang violence and illegal mining.

“I would say honourable members, just to ensure that the deployment of the SANDF is not a panacea, and we never presented it as such. The critical question was whether the police were going to use this period to improve the level of policing in relation to organised crime. And certainly, the deployment of the SANDF was necessitated by the recognition that we were not succeeding in dealing with the gangs and the illegal mines at the level that we needed.”