Ramaphosa deploys army against criminal syndicates

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he would deploy the army to help the police fight organised crime, saying it would be one of the main areas the country’s coalition government would focus on this year.

Ramaphosa added in a state of the nation address that the initial deployment would be in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces, where Cape Town and Johannesburg are located.

“Organised crime is now the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development. Our primary focus this year is on stepping up the fight against organised crime and criminal syndicates,” Ramaphosa said.

“I have directed the minister of police and the SANDF (South African National Defence Force) to develop a technical plan on where our security forces should be deployed within the next few days,” he continued.

The World Bank released a report that estimated that the cost of crime in South Africa is around 9.6% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This includes direct losses of 2.6% of GDP, 4.2% in expenditures such as security and insurance, and 2.8% in opportunity costs.

The report said these resources could elevate South Africa’s growth rate by at least a percentage point if productively invested.