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Members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) will be employed by Government to assist with security during the local government elections on Monday.
Parliament says it has received correspondence from President Cyril Ramaphosa regarding this.
The deployment of soldiers will be from the 30th of this month to the third of November.
It's anticipated the exercise will cost taxpayers over R47 million rand.
The SANDF said in a statement that they are being deployed in terms of Section 201 (a) of the Constitution, read with Section 19 of Defence Act, Act 42 of 2002 for service in cooperation with the Police
Service.
The deployed SANDF members whilst so deployed, will have the same powers and duties as police.
As informed by the prevailing or anticipated security situation, the SANDF in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies is tasked with the protection of National Key Points, strategic and critical infrastructure of national importance, strategic routes, Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) voting material storage warehouses, and transportation of voting materials to inaccessible areas by our air assets.
A security expert has suggested that the deployment of soldiers for the upcoming elections may be a show of force to deter potential violence.
Parliament says 10,000 troops have been deployed to help law enforcement safeguard the municipal elections.
Over 300 voting stations across the country have been identified as high-risk or hotspots.
A criminologist at the University of Stellenbosch Dr Guy Lamb says the army deployment is an effort from ministers in the security cluster to show elections will be safe.
He says over 300 voting stations across the country have been identified as high-risk hospitals.
