The state’s R167-million expenditure to deploy SA National Defence Force (SANDF) for the national shutdown on Monday would be a waste if soldiers stayed idle on the streets until their posting lapsed in three weeks, according to African Transformation Movement (ATM).
Instead, the ATM said in a letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday that the money would be better spent if the 3 474 soldiers, in the meantime, assisted the police in crime hotspots including Hillbrow in Johannesburg and Sunnyside in Pretoria.
ATM president Vuyo Zungula said since the state deployed the army until April 17 and incurred an expenditure of R166 562 058, “it would be a fruitless and wasteful expenditure if the members of the SANDF are not deployed to areas such as Hillbrow and Sunnyside, where human trafficking, drug trafficking, hijacking of buildings, production of counterfeit products, and many other crimes take place”.
Zungula said a list of areas also included Krugersdorp in Mogale City, “where illegal mining is rife, and in past events rape and robbery charges against 14 men, who are also suspected of being illegal miners, were withdrawn after police could not link them to the rapes through DNA evidence”.
Needless to say, he said, illicit activity was costing South Africa and the mining industry millions of rands.
“The zama zamas are also notorious for shootouts involving rival gangs in the mining shafts, resulting in a spike in murder cases.
“A staggering 6 424 people were killed in South Africa in the period, which represents an increase of 664 murders compared with a year ago.”
He said tensions and a threat of violence were also constant in the northern KwaZulu-Natal towns and villages bordering Mozambique, especially in Manguzi, where activists Sandile Tembe and Juda Mthethwa were shot dead following “the brazen activities of cross-border crime syndicates”.
The presence of the military could help communities regain control of their streets after more than a week of protests, he said.
He added that in areas where hitmen have arranged killings, “community infighting activity in areas such as Majola in Port St Johns is on the rise and should also be prioritised because the situation is so dire that the community has resorted to sleeping in the forest nearby for safety”.
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