The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is keeping the country’s borders and residents safe during lockdown which will last for a number of months starting from the 26th March 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the deployment of more than 100 000 SANDF members who will be controlling the country during lockdown.
Our soldiers are making sure that the borders are kept safe and making sure that there is no movement of people in and out of the country as all borders are closed until further notice to help the health ministry to stop the spread of the coronavirus and help heal those who are already infected by the virus. The government is making sure that there is no movement of people as some might come from country that are considered high risk as they have a high number of infected people.
The SANDF is fully responsible for going to other countries around the world to repatriate South Africans who need help. They are also responsible of receiving all South Africans who want to come home during this pandemic as the treatment they are receiving from other countries cannot be the same as home.
The president has further announced that the SANDF will be patrolling the streets of every place in the country to make sure that South Africans are following the regulations set by government to help fight the spread of the coronavirus. The soldiers will make sure that there are no gatherings of more than 50 people happening in the country as they will also make sure that churches and other source of gatherings are closed during lockdown.
The soldiers will also be helping with the distribution of food to poor families while patrolling. They will be handing out food parcels, sanitizers, masks and gloves to people around South Africa while doing their daily duties of making sure that regulations are not broken. SANDF has been deployed in numbers to areas of high crime like the Cape flats in the Western Cape.
The other main reason of soldiers patrolling in all areas is that of sale of alcohol which is prohibited by the government as they said it will cause people not to follow the rules during lockdown. There are a number of incidences where tarven owners sold alcohol to the public and they were arrested by the soldiers as the sale of alcohol is not allowed anywhere in South Africa until further notice by the president.
