Ramaphosa sends 510 soldiers into KwaZulu-Natal to stop the violence

President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed 510 members of the South African National Defence Force to KwaZulu-Natal to support the South African Police Service in maintaining law and order, the Presidency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The deployment is authorised under section 201(2)(a) of the Constitution and runs from 9 October until 30 November 2026. The expected expenditure is R34 082 720.

Ramaphosa informed the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thoko Didiza, and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, of the decision.

According to the statement, the soldiers will assist police in the province “especially in light of recent violent actions arising from a campaign of misinformation about the Constitutional Court judgment on the Refugee Act”, and will be on standby to support the police for any eventuality.

The Presidency’s account links the unrest to claims that the Constitutional Court’s ruling on asylum applications grants blanket amnesty to undocumented foreign nationals, claims government has rejected. Earlier this month police arrested 30 suspects, 25 in KwaZulu-Natal and five in Gauteng, in connection with public violence and unlawful protests.

What the deployment changes on the ground, and whether 510 soldiers on standby is the answer the province needs between now and the end of November, is the question the Presidency now owns. The statement does not set out where in the province the members will be based, what specific incidents they are responding to, or how the misinformation campaign is being countered.

This report is based on the Presidency’s statement as carried by SAnews (South African Government News Agency), which is a summary of the announcement rather than the deployment authorisation itself. The original notice is at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/president-deploys-510-sandf-members-kwazulu-natal.