Fannie Masemola, the national police commissioner.
South Africa’s security cluster has launched a coordinated national intervention aimed at stabilising crime-ridden areas, as police and the military intensify efforts to dismantle organised criminal networks operating across the country.
Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday, Fannie Masemola, national commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), alongside Rudzani Maphwanya, chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), outlined the objectives of a joint operational deployment targeting crime hotspots across several provinces.
The intervention will see the military supporting police operations in areas plagued by organised crime, particularly illegal mining and gang violence.
According to Masemola, the presence of both security forces is intended to stabilise volatile communities while allowing specialised police units to intensify investigations.
“The deployment of both the SANDF and SAPS will stabilise hotspot areas,” Masemola said. “This will allow organised crime teams to infiltrate and conduct investigations in targeted areas where they will deal directly with criminal syndicates operating there.”
Authorities have identified provinces such as Free State, Gauteng and North West as key battlegrounds in the fight against illegal mining.
Masemola warned that sophisticated criminal groups have entrenched themselves in these areas, exploiting both abandoned and active mining infrastructure.
“In these provinces there are sophisticated mining criminal groupings,” he said. “They continue to exploit abundant and active mining infrastructure, generating enormous illicit financial flows while feeding violence between gangs and rival groups.”
The activities of illegal miners have also had serious environmental consequences. Masemola noted that criminal networks often divert resources to sustain their operations.
“As you are aware, they use a lot of water and in many cases they steal the water,” he said. “This contributes to environmental degradation and damages infrastructure.”
Meanwhile, gang-related violence continues to plague communities, particularly in Western Cape and Gauteng. Masemola said gang networks remain key drivers of violent crime, including murder, extortion, drug trafficking and the proliferation of illegal firearms.
“Gang-related violence continues to drive high levels of murder and extortion, drug trafficking and illegal firearm proliferation,” he said. “This is devastating communities and trapping many young people in a cycle of violence.”
Masemola emphasised that these crimes are deeply interconnected and often linked to other illicit networks.
“These criminal dynamics are not isolated,” he said. “They are interconnected and often linked to illegal migration, illicit firearm trafficking, corruption networks and attacks on essential infrastructure.”
Because of the scale and persistence of these activities, the government has opted for what Masemola described as an integrated national response.
“The scale, sophistication and persistence of these criminal activities have resulted in an extraordinary and integrated response by the government,” he said. “This is precisely what this joint deployment seeks to achieve.”
Operational coordination will be managed through the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints), which brings together security agencies, government departments and provincial structures to ensure coordinated planning and oversight.
Joint operational centres have also been established to strengthen cooperation between the SANDF, SAPS and other law enforcement agencies. Masemola said the objectives of the joint operation are clear and measurable.
The first objective is to stabilise priority crime hotspot areas where communities have been severely affected by criminal activity. Secondly, the operation aims to disrupt and dismantle syndicates involved in illicit mining and gang violence.
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