South Africa's largest police union has queried the motive of whether President Jacob Zuma's call to bring in the army to help police the State of the Nation Address is political or operational.
Mpho Kwinika‚ president of the SA Police Union‚ raised the question in response to Zuma's announcement that 441 soldiers would be deployed to help police at parliament tomorrow.
"If it is an operational call‚ what kind of threat is there that warrants people such as soldiers who are trained to use excessive force?
"The police have units which have sufficient force such as the tactical response team‚ national intervention unit and the special task force to deal with high risk threats.
"Why bring in the army to police homeland issues?"
He said the national police commissioner needed to respond to the public and their concerns "as he is the person who needs to have ultimately had the threats assessed and made the request for assistance from the military to help police SONA".
"If the national police commissioner says he can deal with the threats‚ why bring in the army and‚ if he can't‚ how grave are the threats‚ when were they learnt of and why hasn't the public been told of these threats?"
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