CAPE TOWN – Deploying the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to gang-infested areas is like bandaging a wound without addressing the root cause.
This is according to political analyst Mpumelelo Mkhabela, following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Thursday that the SANDF would be deployed to support police in the fight against illegal mining and gang violence.
While the announcement has received praise across political lines, Mkhabela described the move as a palliative, short-term fix.
“The army is often the last resort when everything else has failed. There is something wrong with this attempt to solve the problem of crime in this fashion."
Mkhabela noted that the previous deployment of the SANDF in the Western Cape in the mid-1990s to deal with gang violence did not resolve the problem.
“There was a very intense effort by law enforcement and after some time, there was a withdrawal of the Army.”
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“The problem was not solved, it just subsided and it’s rearing its ugly head again. For the last few years, this place has been a slaughterhouse, which means the presence of the Army is not a solution.
“You must fundamentally dig into what is going on in the social fabric of the Cape Flats that is eating away at the social cohesion. I don’t think we have gotten there.”
On Ramaphosa’s announcement that municipal officials would face legal consequences for service delivery failures, Mkhabela said the root of the dysfunction is political.
“It is his comrades who have enabled that. He now wants to try to solve a political problem using managerial and technical means.
“Yes, that might work, but where there is no political, he will be wasting his time. The cause of the dysfunctionality is political leadership,” added Mkhabela.