SowetanLive reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed an additional 73,180 defence force members on Tuesday to support government departments and to control borders to combat the spread of the coronavirus in all nine provinces until the end of June.
Soldiers will now move beyond just enforcing the lockdown regulations on the streets, with the additional personnel set to screen people at roadblocks, set up field hospitals and deliver water to communities. Briefing MPs on Wednesday, secretary of defence Dr Sam Makhudu Gulube said most of the deployed soldiers would be helping the Department of Health with the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic through tasks such as quarantining civilians and delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) to those on the ground. The additional soldiers include members of the air force, navy, military health services, military police, defence intelligence, legal services, operational communication, technical services and finance accounting, among others. Through the SA Military Health Services, they will establish military field hospitals in the provinces most affected by Covid-19, including Gauteng, Western Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal. Gulube indicated that the revised deployment budget of R4.5bn was also to procure PPE items such as masks and gloves for the soldiers on the ground.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Kgothatso Madisa at TimesLIVE
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