Has the SANDF army deployment in Cape Town made communities safer?

In April, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers would be deployed to serve alongside the South African Police Service (SAPS).

| By Ashraf Hendricks, Matthew Hirsch, Sandiso Phaliso | 3 min watch
Video and editing: Ashraf Hendricks. Journalist: Matthew Hirsch. Additional video: Phaliso Sandiso.

Now months later, 'Operation Prosper' has been met with some criticism from communities, activists and members of Parliament.

Read the article by Matthew Hirsch. 

 

More videos

06:55 Explainer

What's behind Joburg's water crisis

26 September 2026
 6:31 Feature

Will these cops get away with torture?

26 September 2026
 4:18 Explainer

March and March is playing with fire — here's the truth

26 September 2026

Support our video journalism

GroundUp videos are free to watch and may be republished under the GroundUp Republication Licence. Reader donations pay for them.

Donate

Follow GroundUp for more videos

YouTube TikTok Instagram Facebook X Bluesky WhatsApp Newsletter

© 2026 GroundUp. This video is not available under a Creative Commons licence. It may be republished under the GroundUp Republication Licence Version 1.0. Email [email protected] to request permission to republish.