The South African National Defense Force (SANDF) on Friday postponed the deployment of troops in gang-ridden communities in Cape Town.
The SANDF confirmed that soldiers would not be deployed on Friday as previously announced by Police Minister Bheki Cele.
Making the announcement on Thursday, Cele said the deployment would take place on Friday in a bid to help police quell gang violence in Cape Town.
But SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said on Friday that due processes will have to be followed before the deployment.
“We will deploy once we are satisfied that all the systems are put in place for the deployment,” Dlamini said.
He refused to give the exact time when the army would be deployed but said it would take place “pretty soon.”
“We need to make sure all the deployment papers are in place. We need to make sure that our soldiers have received full orientation of the area and we know where we are going to,” the spokesperson said.
The deployment of troops in gang-infested areas in Cape Town was requested by local communities and has been approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa, according to Cele.
This came after at least 13 people, including six women, were shot dead last weekend in Philippi, an impoverished community in Cape Town, in what was believed to be gang-related violence.
The shootings prompted calls for the deployment of troops in Cape Town’s communities that have seen a spike in mass killings recently.
For more than a decade, the communities and the opposition have called on the national government to deploy the army to gang-ridden communities in support of police.
The City of Cape Town has been ravaged by gangs for a long time. Every year, dozens of people are killed in gang violence.
Late last year, President Ramaphosa launched an anti-gang unit in Cape Town, but the unit has proved insufficient to stem gang violence in the city.
