DA is ‘politicising’ army deployment
Party believes military can reduce crime
EXPERTS have warned the DA’s 2019 election mantra, #SendArmyNow, which calls for the military deployment in gang-ridden areas, is a dangerous game played in hopeless communities. Dr Ntsikelelo Benjamin Breakfast from Stellenbosch University’s School of Security and African Studies and faculty of military science said the DA is politicising the issue. “The DA would like to dislodge the ANC from government and would project itself as a better alternative. But wanting to send the army into gang-ridden areas is a dangerous game they are playing,” Breakfast said.
DA provincial leader Bonginkosi Madikizela, however, said the sporadic shootings and gang violence had prompted the party to take action.
“We are the ruling party here in the Western Cape and we cannot just accept these issues. This is far beyond a political issue as we have been calling for the army for the last two years. Our communities resemble a war zone and the ratio of police officers to serve people has lowered,” he said.
Asked if it was a political matter, Madikizela said: “This is not a political matter. All attempts with the ANC national government have failed. We are making an urgent call for the army to assist the police because clearly they can’t do it any more.”
He, however, added that the campaign would be intensified and taken to several more communities, as the “police are clearly outnumbered”. He added that in areas where the army had been deployed, there had been a reduction in crime. Madikizela also refuted the notion that poverty and crime were connected.
“In some of the poorest parts of the country you find the lowest crime rates,” he said.
Breakfast, however, said the best way to address the challenges was to strengthen the police and intensify the combating of crime. “Deploying the army is totally wrong. I think there is a lack of understanding as to what the army actually does. They are there to defend the country against insurgence, terror attacks and wars.
“They can’t go to Mitchells Plain because they are not trained to fight civilian crime. That is the police’s job. The army is there to fight, not control gangs and other policing matters. It simply won’t work,” he said.
Michael Jacobs, a member of the Mitchells Plain Community Policing Forum, posted on Facebook: “Crime affect all of us, but let us be honest on the Cape Flats in the gang-infested areas in particular. The DA should be honest with itself, as this march was nothing but an electioneering stunt and, in particular, very divisive.”
“To those DA councillors who marched, it is your democratic right, but why is it that you cannot open your mouth and bring at least two metro police officers to your ward on a permanent basis? Your excuse that policing is not your responsibility is far from the truth as it just shows your lack of concern for our people’s safety,” he said.
ANC provincial secretary Faiez Jacobs claims the DA has never viewed poor blacks as human beings, whether African or coloured. “That is why the DA is ready to go to war with them. The DA’s view of blacks determines the kind of service the DA government provides, the level of security, the response time to problems, even the value of their lives,” he said.
Police Minister Bheki Cele will be in Hermanus today to address the issue of violence in that area and the possible deployment of the army.