South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops were deployed on Thursday in the streets of Manenberg, one of the 10 crime hotspots in Cape Town.
This comes after Police Minister Bheki Cele’s announcement last week that the army would be deployed to assist the SAPS to deal with crime in gang-plagued areas on the Cape Flats, where murders have been on the rise.
The SANDF troops arrived in the Western Cape last week, however, they had not been deployed as initially announced by Minister Cele.
The correct authorisations and paperwork still needed to be completed before they could be deployed.
Two weeks ago, Cele promised residents of Philippi East in Cape Town that proper interventions would be made to address the spate of killings following the murders of 13 people in the area.
Last weekend, the Western Cape recorded 43 murders.
Cele identified 10 key areas where army deployment could help police, including Manenberg, Bishop Lavis, Mitchells Plain, Nyanga and Delft.
- African News Agency (ANA)
