What's the buzz? President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorized the deployment of 3 300 army personnel to help combat illegal mining activities. There have been numerous calls for this, is this the best way to deal with this crisis?
The deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), which is expected to cost about R492 million, was aimed at maintaining law and order under "Operation Prosper", the president's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in the statement.
The SANDF was previously deployed to the Western Cape in 2019 to fight gang violence under the same operation.
Guest :David Van Wyk, Lead Researcher in Mining Safety at the Benchmark Foundation