He said there were only about 34 000 active uniformed SANDF members in total, of which only about 12 000 were part of the regular force infantry battalions.
After days of violent rioting and the loss of at least a reported 45 lives, as well as infrastructure and property damage worth millions – if not billions – of rands, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally called in the troops on Monday. But questions have been raised around whether the 2 500 members of the SA National Defence Force are enough to make a difference. Defence expert Darren Olivier says they are.
But questions have been raised around whether the 2 500 members of the SA National Defence Force are enough to make a difference.“Clearly this isn’t a lot, but we don’t spend enough on defence to have so many infantry units that tens of thousands could be deployed at a time,” Olivier said. The SANDF announced it was deploying troops to hotspots in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal on Monday afternoon.
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