South Africa army deployment will not end gang threat

Significance

A week earlier, troops from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) arrived in the Western Cape province for an initial three-month deployment to help quell gang violence in areas around Cape Town. Over 900 people have been killed in gang-related killings in 2019 thus far.

Impacts

• The army will be stretched by new commitments amid a long-term decline in the government’s defence budget.
• The SANDF deployment, coupled with already extremely high crime rates, could hurt tourism and investment prospects over the medium term.
• The under-resourced and under-funded NPA will struggle to prosecute both murder and high-profile graft and commercial cases.