JOHANNESBURG: It’s an unusual move for the African continent’s leading democracy: South Africa’s president announced earlier this month that he will deploy the army to high-crime areas to fight the scourge of organized crime, gang violence and illegal mining. President Cyril Ramaphosa said soldiers would take to the streets — in places that have some of the world’s highest rates of violent crime — to combat what he described as the “most immediate threat” to South Africa’s democracy and economic development.

Critics wary of President Cyril Ramaphosa's move to send military to tackle crime, drugs and gangs in three provinces.

JOHANNESBURG: It’s an unusual move for the African continent’s leading democracy: South Africa’s president announced earlier this month that he will deploy the army to high-crime…