MEDIA REPORTS ON SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE (SANDF) DEPLOYING TROOPS TO COMBAT XENOPHOBIA

Date of Release: 09 July 2010

In order to create a general condition of safety and security, the SANDF is, for the run-up to and duration of the Soccer World Cup (SWC) 2010, deployed in support of GOV in all the host cities. When host cities are in-between games, members of the SANDF together with the SAPF are visibly deployed, conducting high-density operations to help ensure that the host cities and surrounding areas remain crime free during periods of low SWC 2010 activity. These operations are planned by the different Provincial Joint Operations structures and take the form of joint patrols within the host cities and immediate surroundings.

Media reports that would intimate that these joint patrols are linked to possible xenophobic attacks are unfounded. These high density operations are the landward component of the SANDF’s mandate to ensure a general condition of safety and security for the SWC 2010. To this end, maritime operations are being conducted in harbours and harbour entrances by the SA Navy and similarly, air space patrols are conducted by the SA Air Force