The South African National Defence Force explains the additional call-up of soldiers as proclaimed by the Commander-In-Chief

22 April 2020

Following the decision by the Commander-in-Chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa to increase the numbers of the SANDF members to strengthen the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, a contingency plan has been put in place to mitigate the spread of the virus.

This is part of the total government scenario planning, taking into consideration the worldwide trends and our own scientific analysis and experience. Various skills within the SANDF will be deployed in support of other government departments to deal decisively with contingencies that might arise. In the main, it will capacitate the engineering capabilities, healthcare capabilities and logistics capabilities.

Issued by Siphiwe Dlamini on behalf of Department of Defence, 22 April 2020