SANDF hoped troops would not be deployed for elections, Parliament told

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) told Parliament that it hoped that its members would not be deployed ahead of the 2021 local government elections.

Deployment

This is after the presiding officers of Parliament confirmed on Wednesday that it had received correspondence from President Cyril Ramaphosa for the deployment of 10,000 SANDF members.

They have been deployed in terms of section 201 (a) of the Constitution as well as section 19 of the Defence Act 42 of 2002.

The troops will be deployed across the country in order to support members of the South African Police Service (Saps) in establishing a safe and secure environment during the municipal elections.

The country will go to the polls to vote on Monday 1 November.

SANDF members, meanwhile, are expected on the ground from Saturday, when the special votes open, until next Wednesday, with their deployment expected to cost just over R47 million.

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The deployment of SANDF comes after Police Minister Bheki Cele’s letter to Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise, requesting that the president togive the Saps permission to work with the defence force.

The SANDF said the troops would have the same powers and duties as Saps members members in terms of section 20 of the Defence Act.

“As informed by the prevailing or anticipated security situation, the SANDF in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies is tasked with the protection of National Key Points, strategic and critical infrastructure of national importance, strategic routes, Independent Electoral Commission [IEC] voting material storage warehouses, and transportation of voting materials to inaccessible areas by our air assets,” the defence force said in a statement on Thursday.

Contingency plans

While briefing the joint standing committee on defence on Friday, the SANDF said it had insisted on its members not being deployed for the elections.

“We had hoped that the military would not be required to be deploy […] that is our basic primary position. [We] believe [that] all the citizens of the country and you as the committee would have preferred that the military is not involved whilst the country exercises the democratic processes freely,” SANDF’s chief of joint operations, major-general Siphiwe Sangweni told the committee.

On the SANDF’s readiness, Sangweni said the defence force had placed contingency plans in case riots or unrest broke out.

“As we have indicated [regarding] the situation of the riots of July, we still have to have contingencies and be ready to counter it as early as possible if it does happen.

“[But] we do not have, as the SANDF, information that [suggests] that unrest or criminality will happen, but we are planning ahead to ensure the safety and security for the elections,” he said.

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