South Africa to deploy army to tackle gang violence

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Thursday he would deploy the army to work alongside the police to tackle high levels of gang violence and other crimes.

The country's high murder rate of around 60 deaths a day includes killings in wars between drug gangs in areas of Cape Town and mass shootings linked to illegal mining in Johannesburg's Gauteng province.

"Organised crime is now the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development," Ramaphosa said in his annual state of the nation address.

"I will be deploying the South African National Defence Force to support the police," he told both houses of parliament.

Draw up plan

Ramaphosa said he had directed the police and army chiefs to draw up a plan on where "our security forces should be deployed within the next few days in the Western Cape and in Gauteng to deal with gang violence and illegal mining."

Other measures to fight crime included recruiting 5,500 police officers and boosting intelligence while identifying priority crime syndicates, he said.

"The cost of crime is measured in lives that are lost and futures that are cut short. It is felt also in the sense of fear that permeates our society and in the reluctance of businesses to invest," Ramaphosa said.