S Africa increases soldiers on streets from 2,000 to over 70,000 to combat COVID-19

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has informed the country's Parliament that he is increasing the current number of soldiers monitoring the COVID-19 lockdown from just over 2,000 to more than 70,000.

In a letter to the Joint Standing Committee on defence in Parliament, Ramaphosa authorised the deployment of the entire South African National Defence Force (SANDF), including the auxiliary force and reserve force, for an additional 73,180 members of the SANDF to patrol South Africa's streets.

The President said in his letter that he had decided to employ the additional members of the SANDF, consisting of the Regular Force, Reserve Force and Auxiliary Force, because the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to increase with reported cases across the Republic of South Africa.

Ramaphosa has authorised the employment of the additional members of the SANDF for the period April 2 to June 26 at a cost expected to total over 4.5 billion rand.

Darren Olivier, a director at African Defence Review and a defence expert, told local media that this amounts to about 10 per cent of the annual expenditure of SANDF.

Cyril Xaba, co-chairperson of the joint standing committee on defence, confirmed in a statement on Tuesday evening that the letter had been received.

The joint Standing Committee on Defence will tomorrow (Wednesday) hold a virtual meeting to consider the letter from the President on the Employment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in terms Section 201 (4) of the Constitution regarding the reasons, place, number of soldiers as well as the period of employment in the fight against the spread of the Covid-19 virus, the statement said.

The move comes amid increasing disregarding for social distancing and self-isolation measures introduced during the extended lockdown of 35 days, which is now in its 27th day.

The number of COVID-19 infections continues to rise daily, and police and soldiers have not only been unable to control resistance to the lockdown effectively, but have also been accused of unnecessary hard handedness and even a killing in one instance.

A number of police officers have also been arrested for assisting people stealing and illegally transporting alcohol, which is prohibited during the lockdown.