South Africa will deploy forces to combat illegal mining and gang violence

Johannesburg — The President of South Africa said on Thursday that his country will send its forces to local communities to help police combat the scourge of illegal mining and gang violence in its two regions, which include the two largest cities.

According to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, “organized crime is now the most pressing threat to our democracy,” putting economic stability and public safety at risk, especially in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

“Children here in the Western Cape are caught in the crossfire of gang wars. Illegal miners are driving people out of their homes in Gauteng,” he told Parliament in his annual State of the Union address. “As a result, I will be deploying the South African National Defense Forces to support the police,” Ramaphosa said.

South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, with an average of about 63 murders per day in 2025. Guns are the most commonly used According to authorities, illegal firearms are used in many crimes, despite strict rules governing gun ownership.

South African authorities have long struggled to prevent gangs of miners from entering some of the 6,000 closed or abandoned mines in the gold-rich country to search for remaining reserves. The government claims that the miners, referred to as ” He spends Or “scammers” in Zulu, they are usually armed, unregistered foreign nationals involved in criminal gangs. In 2024 alone, South Africa lost more than $3 billion in gold to the illicit trade, according to authorities.

Ramaphosa said that in order to combat the negative effects of rising crime rates on people’s lives, the government was prioritizing technology-based intelligence and law enforcement coordination against criminal gangs.

The country’s Minister of Police and the South African National Defense Forces have now been tasked with developing a technical plan for the deployment of security forces in South Africa over the next few days to tackle gang violence and illegal mining.

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