Cape Town, South Africa — President Cyril Ramaphosa says soldiers will reinforce police in Western Cape and Gauteng within days to counter gang shoot-outs and illicit mining, warning that organised crime now endangers national stability. Presidential instructions issued on Thursday order the police and defence chiefs to finalise operational plans for the South African National Defence Force to support existing law-enforcement units.
According to the government, troops will focus on Cape Town neighbourhoods caught in drug — linked turf battles and on Johannesburg districts where armed groups have seized disused gold mines.
In his annual state — of-the-nation address, Ramaphosa said illegal mining syndicates and street gangs had intensified violence to the point that “children are caught in cross-fire” and households are “chased from homes”. Firearms remain the weapon of choice, officials noted, despite strict licensing rules.
The cabinet separately approved the recruitment of 5 500 new police officers and pledged to name high-priority organised-crime targets.
“The cost of crime is measured in lives lost and futures cut short,” the president told legislators, adding that the damage is also deterring business investment. Authorities estimate that in 2024 alone, gold worth more than three billion dollars leaked from abandoned shafts controlled by so-called zama zamas—undocumented miners who operate under the protection of armed networks, according to official statements.
The South African Police Service has struggled to monitor roughly 6 000 derelict shafts, many in Gauteng.
Ramaphosa further linked poor service delivery to public anger, promising criminal charges against municipal officials who fail to restore water where shortages have lasted weeks. This week, parts of Johannesburg experienced three weeks of interrupted supply, prompting scattered street protests in the country’s economic hub.
The president provided no exact deployment figure or timeline beyond his order that operations begin “within the next few days”.
A detailed directive is expected from the defence and police ministries shortly.
