Sending in army a last resort, expert says

Police and the South African military came out in their numbers last night in a show of forse when they swarmed the Jeppe Mens hostel in Jeppe town to search the hostel for illegal substances and looke for suspects. They did a door to door search of their rooms looking for stolen goods, drugs and weapons. The police did the internal raid while the strong military presence kept a close gaurd from the ground, surrounding the building. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 22 April 2015, Jeppe Hostel, Johannesburg.

Police and the South African military came out in their numbers last night in a show of forse when they swarmed the Jeppe Mens hostel in Jeppe town to search the hostel for illegal substances and looke for suspects. They did a door to door search of their rooms looking for stolen goods, drugs and weapons. The police did the internal raid while the strong military presence kept a close gaurd from the ground, surrounding the building. Picture: Antoine de Ras, 22 April 2015, Jeppe Hostel, Johannesburg.

Published Apr 23, 2015

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Johannesburg - “It is with great reluctance that the army should ever be deployed to deal with internal and domestic matters.”

This was the view of Gareth Newham, the head of the governance, crime and justice division at the Institute for Security Studies.

Newham said the military was trained to search and destroy its enemy while armed with heavy weaponry.

“Police, on the other hand, are trained in criminal law and are seen as more trusted and credible by the public when dealing with these matters. The decision to deploy the army should never be taken lightly.”

Newham added that this type of action undermines the legitimacy of the police force, which seemed to be handling the situation. “It was more a political move than a decision made out of necessity,” he maintained.

Newham suggested that the only long-term way of addressing these issues was to make sure South Africa sorted out its problems with police intelligence and hiring the right people for the job.

“We can’t have the police only responding to acts of looting and property destruction; they have to be aware of situations forming beforehand.”

He added that this was the second wave of xenophobia this year. When we experienced the first wave in January, nobody was prosecuted. It sent out a message to those same people to loot again and encouraged others to join in because there were no consequences.

“We have to put a strong message across that this behaviour is not acceptable and that anyone who acts in this way will be prosecuted and jailed.”

The EFF in a statement condemned the deployment of the army. It also rejected President Jacob Zuma’s response. “It was an overreaction by the government. The ANC is failing to deal with the socio-economic problems of the country, which is the cause of these issues.”

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota said the police could have done the job without the SANDF. “Calling in the army was unnecessary.”

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