Africa Melan talks to military and defense analyst Helmoed Heitman about SANDF members deployed to help police amid unrest and looting.
- SANDF troops sent to help Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal police deal with riots and looting
- At least 10 people have already been confirmed dead in the violence
- Defense analyst Helmoed Heitman says SANDF will carry out police orders
The deployment of troops in robberies of hotspots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal will be decided by the police, says military and defense analyst Helmoed Heitman.
On Monday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) would be deployed to help police deal with the unrest and looting.
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Heitman says the SANDF will protect members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and provide assistance as SAPS members enforce the law.
He says police are tense and need SANDF troops to bolster the police presence.
“It’s up to the police to decide where they need an extra presence, and then the defense forces will provide the extra bodies,” he told early breakfast host Melan.
Essentially not dependent on them, they [SANDF] are deployed in support of the police, which is the normal way to do this.
Helmoed Heitman, military and defense analyst
So the police have to decide where they need extra bodies. The defense forces are basically what the military would call a police force multiplier. They provide more hot bodies to do things so they can spread the police further.
Helmoed Heitman, military and defense analyst
For example, at a checkpoint, instead of having a dozen police or two dozen police, there are several dozen soldiers and two or three police officers. The presence of the police is becoming much wider because they have people to protect them and actually do the hard work for them.
Helmoed Heitman, military and defense analyst
You can see on TV that some of the scenes are getting out of control, the police can’t handle it. There are too few of them.
Helmoed Heitman, military and defense analyst