President Cyril Ramaphosa said the military would work with the country’s police forces to combat “gang wars” that threaten “our democracy”.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he would deploy the military to work with police to tackle the country’s serious problem of gang violence and other crime.

Ramaphosa said on Thursday he had instructed police and army chiefs to develop a plan “where our security forces should be deployed in the Western Cape and Gauteng provinces over the next few days to deal with gang violence and illegal mining”.

“Organized crime is now the most direct threat to our democracy, society and economic development,” the president said in his annual State of the Union address.

“Children in the Western Cape are caught in the crossfire of gang wars. People in Gauteng are being driven from their homes by illegal miners,” he told parliament in a speech.

“I will deploy the South African Defense Force to support the police,” he said.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, with about 60 people killed every day, involving wars between drug gangs in the Cape Town area and mass shootings linked to illegal mining in Gauteng province in Johannesburg.

The South African leader said other measures to combat crime include recruiting 5,500 police officers and strengthening intelligence operations while identifying key criminal groups.

Ramaphosa said: “The cost of crime is measured in lives lost and futures shortened. This cost is also felt in the fear that permeates our society and the reluctance of businesses to invest.”

criminal group

Firearms are the most commonly used weapons in South Africa, and despite the country’s strict rules on gun ownership, illegal firearms are still used in many crimes, according to authorities.

South African authorities have also long struggled to prevent gangs of miners from entering some of the gold-rich country’s 6,000 closed or abandoned mines in search of remaining reserves.

The government claims the miners, known as “zama zamas” or “crooks” in Zulu, are often armed, undocumented foreigners involved in criminal gangs.

According to authorities, South Africa lost more than $3 billion in gold to the illegal mining trade in 2024 alone.

Ramaphosa also said authorities would bring criminal charges against municipal officials who fail to deliver water to communities where water shortages are one of the main issues angering most voters.

“Water outages are a symptom of local government systems that are not working,” the president said of the worsening water crisis caused by dry weather and continued failures in water main maintenance.

“We will hold accountable those who neglect their responsibilities to provide water to our people,” he said.

Residents of Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, staged sporadic protests this week after taps ran dry in some neighborhoods for more than 20 days.

Ramaphosa also criticized “stronger states” for exerting “dominance and influence” over weaker ones, saying South Africans cannot consider themselves “free” “as long as the peoples of Palestine, Cuba, Sudan, Western Sahara and elsewhere suffer occupation, oppression and war”.

Ramaphosa became head of state in 2018 and has led South Africa’s first coalition government since June 2024, when the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid 30 years ago.

The coalition, which includes the pro-business Democratic Alliance, has helped restore confidence in Africa’s largest economy.

But widespread and persistent unemployment has not improved, and the government is under pressure to prove it can improve service delivery.