Police not SANDF must defend citizens within the borders: Analyst

FILE | SANDF soldiers on patrol

Defence Analyst Kobus Marais says the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in areas ravaged by crime in the Western Cape and Gauteng cannot be supported and condoned.

Marais was responding to the announcement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address last week.

Ramaphosa said the deployment of soldiers will assist the police dealing with crime in these areas as well as rampant gangsterism.

To strengthen our fight against gang violence, I am deploying the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to support the police, as we did to great effect with illegal mining. I have directed the Minister of Police and the SANDF to develop a tactical plan where our security forces should be deployed within the next few days in the Western Cape and Gauteng to deal with gang violence and illegal mining. As is required by the Constitution, I will inform the NA and the NCOP regarding the timing, place of deployment of our soldiers and what it will cost.”

This announcement by the President received a round of applause from the majority of the Members of Parliament inside the Cape Town City Hall during SONA last week.

VIDEO | President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2026 State of the Nation Address:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDso0sPwTU0

However, Marais has a different take on the deployment of the SANDF to support the police.

“This deployment in support of the South African Police Service is a strong indication of a serious structural challenge deficit and the decaying within police service capabilities and their commitment. The primary constitutional mandate of the police services is to safeguard our citizens and people within the borders of South Africa, while that of the defence force is to protect the integrity of our land and secure the safety of the people from threats coming from outside of our borders. The primary objective of our soldiers is not to do the policing work within our borders while they can assist on a very short-term and within a very specific mandate.”

Marais says the defence force has poor capabilities and he is concerned about the deployment of soldiers in these areas.

“The announcement by the president to deploy our soldiers in the streets against our own citizens can never be supported in a constitutional democracy like ours. This is more so when we have a delipidated and defunded defence force with very poor defence capabilities left and the South African Police Services with a budget three times of that of defence force and with many more policemen and women than the defence force has available.”

The deployment of the soldiers is one the topics that is expected to feature strongly when political parties debate Ramaphosa’s SONA on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Ramaphosa will reply to the debate on Thursday.