The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday demanded a clear plan for the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployment to tackle gang violence on the Cape Flats.

DA National Council of Provinces Member on Security & Justice Nicholas Gotsell said gang violence on the Cape Flats requires a focused, intelligence-driven intervention tailored to the realities of organised criminal networks operating in these communities.

Last month, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of the SANDF to support the South African Police Service (Saps) in tackling gang violence and illegal mining in the Western Cape, Gauteng and Eastern Cape.

The DA said while it supported the fixed term deployment, the intervention cannot continue without a clear strategy, defined roles and proper coordination between the Saps and SANDF.

Gotsell pointed to recent briefings to Parliament, which he said raised serious concerns.

“Weeks after the President announced the deployment, oversight committees have still not been presented with a clear strategic framework explaining how the operation will function, who will command it and how its success will be measured,” he said.

He noted that during last week’s joint committee meetings between Saps and the SANDF, his party specifically raised concerns about the training of soldiers for civilian policing operations.

He said Parliament was assured that the necessary training was underway, however, after questions by the DA, these assurances were contradicted over the weekend when the Acting Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia acknowledged that the deployment would have to be delayed owing to insufficient training and planning.

“This contradiction highlights exactly why Parliament’s oversight of this deployment is so critical,” Gotsell said.

He noted that police and soldiers operate under different mandates and training environments, adding that the Saps enforces the law in civilian spaces and builds cases for prosecution, while the SANDF is trained for combat operations.

“…without proper planning, training and coordination, joint deployments risk confusion and operational failure,” he said.

Gotsell said it also seemed that the deployment is being approached in the same way for gang violence and illegal mining operations, despite them being different criminal environments.

“Gang networks on the Cape Flats and illegal mining syndicates elsewhere in the country operate in fundamentally different ways. Illegal mining operations are often centred around controlling abandoned mines, whereas gang violence on the Cape Flats is a fluid, community-centric insurgency,” he said.

A one-size-fits-all approach will not work, he said.

The DA said it will exercise strict oversight of this deployment through police and defence oversight structures in Parliament.

The party will also call for a centralised and regular joint reporting mechanism to ensure that the Saps and SANDF leadership account to Parliament on coordination, progress and outcomes.