SAPS
SANDF members would be deployed to assist police in enforcing lockdown regulations on beaches along the Garden Route.
This was confirmed by the Police Minister, Bheki Cele, during a visit to the district on Wednesday.
His spokesperson, Lirandzu Themba, said according to information before them, SANDF members would be deployed to the Western Cape to assist in maintaining compliance of the Disaster Management Act.
The Minister was also quoted in media reports as saying that Covid19 is taking a toll on the police members.
The troop deployment was also confirmed by the spokesperson for the Western Cape Local Government Ministry, James Brent-Styan.
"The Premier of the Western Cape made a request to the national government for support from the SANDF to help us combat the Covid19 pandemic. We have just been informed that the SANDF will be sending some troops that will be deployed in the Garden Route that was initially identified as the first hotspot in the Western Cape," he told Algoa FM News.
"So, these troops, as far as we know, will be used to assist the police in doing enforcement actions in the Garden Route area to reach compliance with the regulations."
But, Western Cape Community Safety MEC, Albert Fritz, was fuming, accusing Minister Cele of being on a power trip across the province.
He said it was clear from his media tour in the province this week, that the Minister was more passionate about arresting surfers than arresting gang leaders on the Cape Flats and other communities across South Africa.
It's understood that the Province appealed for emergency medical assistance while the call for troop support came from the Garden Route District Municipality.
