SOUTH African soldiers moved into gang-ridden Cape Town townships on Wednesday, as two people were killed in fresh violence, nearly 50 days after the president ordered the deployment.
Troops in full combat gear and carrying assault rifles stepped from armoured vehicles that arrived with sirens blaring in Mitchells Plain, a neighbourhood in the Cape Flats.
The low-lying area, nestled between tourist magnet Cape Town and the scenic winelands, is a hotspot for murder and plagued by gang turf wars and retaliatory attacks.
Two men, aged 25 and 33, were shot and killed in a 5 am (0300 GMT) attack in the neighbouring sprawling area of Hanover Park.
Earlier, around 2:45 am, a 27-year-old man was wounded in a separate shooting in Mitchells Plain.
“I am afraid for my children,” said a 65-year-old grandmother on condition of anonymity, suspecting her backyard was being used as a night lookout.
“All night, I don’t sleep,” she said, adding that her daughter leaving at 4 am makes her “so anxious.”
Shootings happen at all hours, including when children are going to and coming from school, said 69-year-old retiree Malvin Gordan.
The deployment was a welcome relief, he said, with the troop’s “presence alone” forcing gang members to stand back.
The Cape Flats saw one of its deadliest weeks last August when police recorded 59 murders in seven days.
The violence and elsewhere prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa in February to announce the deployment to boost the country’s struggling police force, saying crime was one of the biggest threats facing South Africa.
Excluding countries at war, South Africa has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, with an average of 60 killings reported each day.
Codenamed “Operation Prosper,” the deployment will last a year and cover five of the nine provinces, including Gauteng, home to the financial capital Johannesburg, according to a plan presented to parliament.
It mobilises more than 2,200 soldiers to support police in tackling the surge in crime and illegal mining.
South Africa has repeatedly turned to the army in times of crisis, from enforcing strict Covid‑19 lockdowns in 2020 to deploying troops during the deadly riots sparked by the jailing of ex‑president Jacob Zuma in 2021.
Soldiers were also sent into the streets in 2023 after a wave of truck burnings raised fears of wider unrest.
In 2019, around 1,300 soldiers were deployed to back up police in the gang-afflicted Cape Flats areas surrounding Cape Town.