By Akani Nkuna
President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plan to deploy soldiers alongside police to tackle crime runs the risk of creating “moral hazards” and is unlikely to eliminate criminal networks, two defence and security experts told parliament on Friday.
Stellenbosch University sociology chair Professor Lindy Heinecken and SANDF Colonel (Dr) Laetitia Olivier were briefing the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, where they criticised proposals to send South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members into gang-affected areas, saying that a policing-led approach was better suited to domestic law-and-order operations.
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“The announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa to deploy SANDF entails dealing with direct violence. We are seeing the violence, and we are matching the violence with direct threats of violence. However, that will never bring about positive peace because the structural violence and the cultural violence that result in
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