Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says the army will not be deployed in KwaZulu-Natal because there is no war in the province.
There are protests on several major highways in the province following the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma.
Mapisa-Nqakula says what is happening now is not the responsibility of the Defence Force.
“South Africa National Defence Force has not been deployed to KZN. That is not the responsibility of the SANDF. I don’t think we have reached a point where SANDF should be dragged into what is happening in KwaZulu-Natal.
Pictures from the KwaZulu-Natal protests:
Meanwhile, Cabinet’s Security Cluster on Saturday condemned the violent protests. It says differences should be resolved with dialogue and not with acts of vandalism.
Scores of trucks have been set alight, roads closed and shops looted in Mooi River.
The community of Mooi River have started stripping charred luxury vehicles for copper cables and scrap metal.The vehicles were torched amongst several trucks on the N3 in KZN as the #ShutdownKZN protestors call for the release of former President Jacob Zuma. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/G5V7mQzuc9
— Jayed-Leigh Paulse (@JayedLeigh) July 10, 2021
“All of us South Africans should condemn that violence. And right now you are seeing the food, goods which are being delivered to other parts of the country being burnt. Very soon we are going to have a food crisis in the country. We are going to have problems with fuel in the country because the root that has been closed is basically an economic route. That’s a route where you have your trucks which are ferrying delivery from the ports to the inland area of our country,” said Mapisa-Nqakula earlier on Saturday.
Institute for Security Studies gives insight on the protests:
Gauteng police on high alert
Gauteng police say they are on high alert following threats that protests happening in KwaZulu-Natal are going to spill over to Gauteng. They say more police officers will be deployed at Maimai hostel in Johannesburg and they are also ready for Monday’s Constitutional Court hearing of former President Jacob Zuma. Gauteng Acting Provincial Commissioner Major General Tommy Mthombeni says their intelligence is on the ground gathering information on a daily basis.
“What is happening in KwaZulu-Natal must just indicate that from the South African Police Service, national head office on a daily basis we having the joint operational committee meeting where all the role players are involved but of course in Gauteng linking up with our intelligence. There is information, we deal with that information. We have also directed all the law enforcement agencies in Gauteng and we have put up the plan in ensuring that we deal with the threats.”
