The army has began a process of taking back firearms from commandos operating in rural areas, National police commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a justice, crime prevention and security cluster meeting in Johannesburg, he said the process was part of the phasing out of commandos, which is scheduled to take six years.
”People who were members of the commando unit and want to be police reservists will have to apply and there is no guarantee they may be employed.”
Selebi said the commando unit was no longer relevant in the current set up of the policing authority.
”This unit is no longer part of the doctrine of the SA National Defence Force and is not in the army’s design,” he said.
”Commandos had their own structure. They were under no ones command and this is not acceptable to the police.”
Selebi said police reservists would provide security in the remote areas including to farmers.
”Security for people in rural areas does not relate to farms only but to everyone who resides there,” he said. – Sapa