Minister Bheki Cele said the redeployment of soldiers to assist the police enforce lockdown regulations during level three was on the cards.
Minister Bheki Cele said the redeployment of soldiers to assist the police enforce lockdown regulations during level three was on the cards.
POLICE Minister Bheki Cele said the redeployment of soldiers to assist the police enforce lockdown regulations during level three was on the cards.
Cele made the statement when he was responding to questions during a media briefing by the national corona command council.
“Where police feel they need extra assistance, that shall be done,” he said.
“It is on the cards as we speak,” Cele said.
The minister said he had earlier in the morning spoken to Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on the matter and the heads of the SANDF and SAPS were to have their own meetings.
Cele stated the police would enforce the regulations without resorting to brutality.
“Brutality is not part of policing … We will work hard that there is no brutality.”
He also said there were mechanisms to check if brutality was applied in enforcing the law.
Cele, however, called on the public to comply with the law.
Recently, revellers threw bottles at officers when they were ordered to disperse after closing a road and partying in Port Elizabeth.
During that incident the police used teargas and water tanks to disperse the crowd.
“We urge the people not to push the police where they have to use extra things within the law,” Cele said.
“We call on South Africans to respond on the first call to move. We will enforce the law minus brutality,” he added.
