JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's president said Thursday that the country would send its troops into communities to help police fight the scourge of illegal mining and gang violence in its two provinces with the two biggest cities.
According to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, “organized crime is now the most immediate threat to our democracy,” endangering both economic stability and public safety, particularly in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
“Children here in the Western Cape are caught in the crossfire of gang wars. People are chased out of their homes by illegal miners in Gauteng,” he told Parliament in his annual State of the Union address. As a result, “I will be deploying the South African National Defence Force to support the police,” Ramaphosa said.
South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world, with an average of around 63 killings per day in 2025. Guns are the most commonly used weapon, according to authorities, and illegal firearms are used in many crimes, despite the stringent rules governing gun ownership.
Authorities in South Africa have long struggled to prevent gangs of miners from entering some of the 6,000 closed or abandoned mines in the gold-rich nation to search for remaining reserves. The government claims that the miners, referred to as “ zama zamas, ” or “hustlers” in Zulu, are typically armed, undocumented foreign nationals who are involved in crime syndicates. In 2024 alone, South Africa lost over $3 billion in gold to the illegal trade, according to authorities.
Ramaphosa said to combat the negative effects of rising crime rates on people’s lives, the government is prioritizing technology-driven intelligence and coordinated law enforcement against criminal syndicates.
An additional 5,500 police officers will be hired.
The country’s Minister of Police and the South African National Defence Force are now tasked with developing a technical plan to deploy South Africa’s security forces within the next few days to address gang violence and illegal mining.
South Africa's probe into criminality, political interference and corruption in the country's criminal justice system, which began holding hearings in September 2025, has heard from multiple witnesses about police abuse of power and corruption.
Ramaphosa appointed the commission after public outcry over allegations by a top police official that South Africa’s police and justice system had been infiltrated by criminal syndicates.
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South African President Cyril Ramaphosa gives his State of the Nation address in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Rodger Bosch/Pool Photo via AP)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa smiles before the State of the Nation (SONA) address in Cape Town, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. (Rodger Bosch/Pool Photo via AP)
One U.S. service member was rescued and at least one was missing after two U.S. military planes went down in separate incidents including the first shoot-down since the war began nearly five weeks ago.
It was the first time U.S. aircraft have been downed in the conflict and came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran.”
One fighter jet was shot down in Iran, officials said. A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued, but a second was missing, and a U.S. military search-and-rescue operation was underway.
Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation, said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down.
The war now entering its sixth week is destabilizing economies around the world as Iran responds to the U.S. and Israeli attacks by targeting the Gulf region's energy infrastructure and tightening its grip on oil and natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Here is the latest:
The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency said Saturday that the two men who were hanged belonged to the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq.
The agency said Abul-Hassan Montazer and Vahid Bani-Amirian were convicted of “being members of a terrorist group.”
This brings to six the total number of MEK members executed since the start of the war.
Activists and rights groups say Iran routinely holds closed-door trials in which defendants are unable to challenge the accusations they face.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that its air force struck ballistic and and anti-aircraft missile storage sites in Tehran.
It said the strikes a day earlier included weapons manufacture sites as well as military research and development facilities in the Iranian capital.
It said the strikes are part of an ongoing phase to increase damage to Iran's “core systems and foundations.”
Authorities in Dubai said the facades of two buildings were damaged by debris from intercepted drones, including one belonging to U.S. tech firm Oracle. No injuries were reported.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has threatened to attack Oracle and 17 other U.S. companies after accusing them of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations in Iran.
Previous Iranian drone strikes caused damage to three Amazon Web Services facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
As of Friday, 247 of the wounded were Army soldiers, 63 were Navy sailors, 19 were Marines and 36 were Air Force airmen, according to Pentagon data available online.
It is unclear if the data includes any of the service members involved in the downing of two combat aircraft reported Friday.
Most of the wounded — 200 — were also mid to senior enlisted troops, 85 were officers and 80 were junior enlisted service members.
The current death toll remains at 13 service members killed in combat.
Palestinian Muslims attend Friday prayers outside Jerusalem's Old City due to restrictions linked to the Iran war, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tamara and her sister Amal color pictures on the floor as their parents, Sara and Ahmed, who fled their village of Khiyam in southern Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment, sit inside a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Mohammad Qubaisi, 53, with burn wounds from an Israeli airstrike on southern Lebanon undergoes surgery by Dr. Mohammed Ziara, left, and his team, at the Sidon Government Hospital in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
FILE - An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)
