Soldiers on the streets. What's behind South Africa's plan to deploy army in high-crime areas

South Africa's President Ramaphosa will deploy the army to combat organized crime and gang violence in high-crime areas.

It's an unusual move for the African continent's leading democracy: South Africa's president announced earlier this month that he will deploy the army to high-crime areas to fight the scourge of organized crime, gang violence and illegal mining.

Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa. (AFP)

President Cyril Ramaphosa said soldiers would take to the streets - in places that have some of the world's highest rates of violent crime - to combat what he described as the "most immediate threat" to South Africa's democracy and economic development.

He said the deployment would happen in three of the country's nine provinces, without giving a timeline. Some critics, however, say the army deployment could be seen as an admission that Ramaphosa's government is losing the battle.

A top tourist city marred by violence

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With a population of some 3.8 million, the stunningly beautiful Cape Town is South Africa's second-largest city and one of its top tourist attractions.

But the neighborhoods on its outskirts, known as the Cape Flats, are notorious for deadly gang violence.

Street gangs with names such as the Americans, the Hard Livings and the Terrible Josters have for years battled for control of the illegal drug trade, while also being involved in extortion rackets, prostitution and contract killings.

Bystanders, including children, are often caught in the crossfire and killed in gang-related shootings. According to the latest crime statistics, South Africa's three police precincts with the most serious crime rates are all in and around Cape Town.

Ramaphosa said one part of the army would deploy in the Western Cape province, where Cape Town is located and which statistics say has around 90% of the country's gang-related killings.

Two other provinces, he said, would also see troop deployments: Gauteng, which is home to Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, and the Eastern Cape province.

Illegal mining run by organized crime syndicates

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The outskirts of Johannesburg and the wider Gauteng province are dotted with abandoned mine shafts and authorities there have long grappled with illegal gold mining.

They say the mining gang, known as zama zamas, are typically run by heavily armed crime syndicates, brutal in protecting their operations. They use "informal miners" recruited from desperate and impoverished communities to go into the shafts, searching for leftover precious deposits.

These gangs are often connected to high-profile violence, including a 2022 case that shocked South Africa when around 80 alleged illegal miners were accused of gang raping eight women who were part of a music video shoot at an abandoned mine.

Last year, a standoff between police and illegal miners in an abandoned mine left at least 87 miners dead after police took a hard-line approach and cut off their food supplies in an attempt to force them out.

The illegal miners are often involved in other crimes in nearby communities, analysts say, and turf battles between rival gangs have forced people to leave their homes and seek safety elsewhere.

Authorities say there are an estimated 30,000 illegal miners in South Africa, operating in some of its 6,000 abandoned mine shafts.

The government has noted an increase in illegal mining, which it estimates is worth more than $4 billion a year in gold lost to criminal syndicates.

The trade is believed to be predominantly controlled by migrants from neighboring Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, stoking anger among South African communities against both the criminal bosses and foreigners living in the local community.

Previous army deployments linked to apartheid

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Ramaphosa is well aware that South Africans old enough to remember the years of forced racial segregation under the apartheid system, which ended in 1994, likely will recall images of troops deployed to suppress pro-democracy protests.

Mindful of that painful past, he said it was important not to deploy the army "without a good reason."

But he said it has now "become necessary due to a surge in violent organized crime that threatens the safety of our people and the authority of the state."

Ramaphosa sought to calm concerns by saying the army would operate under police command.

There have been other recent deployments of South African troops. In 2023, soldiers fanned out into the streets after a series of truck burnings raised concerns over wider public disorder. And around 25,000 troops were deployed in 2021 to quell violent riots sparked by the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma.

South Africa also used soldiers to enforce strict lockdown rules during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Crime experts have expressed concern over Ramaphosa's latest deployment plans, insisting the army is not a long-term solution to fighting crime and soldiers are not experts in domestic law enforcement.

Firoz Cachalia, the country's police minister, has backed Ramaphosa and insisted the army will act in support of police and "their operations in particular locations."

He said the deployment is time-limited and meant to stabilize areas "where people are losing their lives" every day.