South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has deployed 3 474 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members until April 17 to assist police under Operation Prosper.
TimesLive reported that Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said on Sunday that National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) chairperson Amos Masondo were informed of the military deployment.
Mothapo said the deployment of the military is for the “prevention and combating of crime as well as maintenance, and preservation of law and order in South Africa”. Said Mathapo:
The correspondence to the presiding officers, dated March 17, indicated that 3,474 members of the SANDF have been deployed, effective from March 17 to April 17.
The employment is in line with section 201(2) (a) of the constitution and section 19 of the Defence Act.
An amount of R166,562,058 is expected to be incurred for this deployment.
The deployment comes a few days before a planned national shutdown on 20 March 2023.
The opposition EFF party has called for a national shutdown to protest continuing load shedding and call for Ramaphosa to resign.
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