PRETORIA - National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola said the deployment of the South African National Defence Force and the South African Police Service is intended to stabilise hotspot areas.
"The purpose of this intervention is to provide space to the SAPS to deal with both street crime and disrupt and dismantle organised crime groupings through a coordinated operational framework, where the SANDF and SAPS work together to stabilise crime affected areas."
Masemola and SANDF Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya held a joint media briefing in Pretoria, to provide updates on the deployment amidst confusion over authority and which areas would benefit.
He also said law enforcement agencies are stepping up operations to dismantle illegal mining networks.
Masemola said the scourge of illegal mining networks remains one of the country's biggest threats.
"In the Free State, Gauteng and North West, sophisticated illicit mining criminal groups continue to exploit abandoned and active mining infrastructure, generating enormous illicit financial flows, fueling violence between gangs and rival groups, damaging essential infrastructure and contributing to environmental degradation and water"
He said gang related violence in the Western Cape and Gauteng continues to drive high levels of murder, extortion, drug trafficking and illegal farm proliferation, devastating communities and trapping many young people in a cycle of violence.
Maphwanya said that in their SANDF training they have models that cater arrangements when working with police.
"We will do our own combat readiness training and we do joint mission readiness training. That is the training we conduct together. That is the training that harmonises our way of doing things. Among other things, we look at the rules of engagement and how we should conduct communication."
He said it should be remembered that this is not the first time they are working together. They worked together previously for Operation Vala Umgodi, during the taxi violence operations and during earlier gang violence operations.
"We have no ambitions to be policemen. We remain as soldiers," Maphwanya added.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced that 2,200 SANDF members would be deployed to crime hotspots across the country.
The deployment will run until the end of March 2027 to the tune of R823million.