Soldiers deployed to crime-ridden areas of Gauteng, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape should not trample on the human rights of South Africans.
This is a plea from parliament’s portfolio committees for police and for mineral and petroleum resources as the soldiers begin their deployment.
Hundreds of members of the defence force have started moving into crime-ridden areas after President Cyril Ramaphosa called for their immediate deployment to help the police deal with illegal mining, gang violence and construction mafias in the three provinces.
After a joint meeting on Wednesday, the two committees said they understood that the army was not trained to deal with civilians, and the police, therefore, should ensure that civilians’ human rights were protected.
The army came under severe criticism for its heavy-handedness during the Covid-19 lockdown, when soldiers were deployed in communities to enforce restrictions.
The chair of the police portfolio committee, Ian Cameron, has called on police senior management to ensure that human rights are protected and that there are “robust” accountability mechanisms in place.
“Because the deployment is SAPS-led, it is important to underscore the need to ensure that SAPS members, who are trained to police crime in civilian settings, adhere to high human rights standards,” said Cameron.
“While the deployment is of strategic importance in the short term, strict parameters are necessary to avoid militarised areas.”
Cameron said they had been assured that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) would ensure that the police were held accountable for their actions and were concerned about how the same would be done regarding the SANDF.
The committees said they wanted to see an increase in the number of prosecutions resulting from the deployment of the army.
They want the SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to “strengthen” their collaboration to ensure that there are no disparities between the rates of arrests and convictions.
“It is important that any heightened presence is accompanied by high conviction rates to prevent recurrence when the deployment period ends. This period also presents a necessary opportunity for collaborative work between government departments in the quest to combat crime,” said Cameron.
The two committees said it was now urgent to finalise the organised crime implementation model, which should be tabled in parliament soon.
They said the delay in implementing this strategy was not something the country could afford, as there was a need for a strategy that would ensure there would be no regression and resurgence of crime when the army withdraws.
The committees said the deployment of the army would be an interim deterrent, especially in dealing with illegal mining, stressing that the kingpins and syndicates ought to have been dismantled by the time of withdrawal.
“There must be a clear plan to arrest kingpins, who are the strategic drivers and primary beneficiaries of illegal mining. Arresting low-level miners will not have the necessary impact in addressing the scourge,” said the chair of the portfolio committee on mineral and petroleum resources, Mikateko Mahlaule.
The committees also want the army and the police to work closely with Sars in targeting kingpins and disrupting their financial networks, effectively “cutting off the lifeblood of ground-level illegal mining operations”, and also that there should be investigations aimed at tracking their assets and ensuring that tax laws were enforced.
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