National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says the deployment of soldiers to crime hotspots in the South Africa (SA) will provide space for the South African Police Service (SAPS) to disrupt, disable and dismantle organised crime groupings involved in illegal mining and gang violence.
He was speaking during a joint media briefing by the SAPS and the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) in Pretoria.
Masemola says the 13-month long deployment dubbed ‘Operation Prosper’ will see over 2 000 SANDF members deployed to crime hotspots across the country, including in Gauteng, Free State, North-West, Western Cape and the Eastern Cape provinces.
Masemola began by refuting claims of a turf war between the army and the police regarding the deployment of troops to crime hotspots across the country. He told the media that operations between the SAPS and the SANDF were seamless.
“They are working seamlessly together, both SAPS and the SANDF. If there are any elements that are not cooperating, we will deal with them through disciplinary processes. We should not treat this as if it is the first time that the SANDF and the police are working together. They have previously worked together on Operation Vala Umgodi. So, it is not something new at all, and even now we do not foresee any problems with the two working together,” says Masemola.
–SABC–
