Cape Town - The City of Cape Town welcomed the extension of the deployment of the military on the Cape Flats.
"I am confident that the presence of the military helped and that it helped compensate for the 4500 SAPS members that we have lost in this province over the last 4 years," said the mayoral committee member for safety and security, JP Smith, adding that it is not possible to estimate how much worse those problems may have been if the military had not been deployed.
"We would also like to suggest that we review the deployment strategy for the military and Operation Lockdown and actually implement the name 'lockdown' and ensure that we deploy the military independently of SAPS and that the military not escort SAPS on operations, but instead maintain an independent peacekeeping presence in suburbs with high levels of violence (especially overnight) and help achieve an effective lockdown of the movement of high-flyers with outstanding warrants and illegal firearms and drugs in the suburbs to help stabilise the situation in each."
President Cyril Ramaphosa has on Monday extended the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployment in the Cape Flats.
Presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko said Ramaphosa has in terms of Section 201(2)(a) of the Constitution, read with Section 19 of the Defence Act, extended the employment of the SANDF in crime-affected parts of the Western Cape until 31 March 2020.
The extension comes into effect today.