"Having realised the magnitude of the challenge ... the chief of the defence force then decided that it would be better for us to put all our soldiers on standby," she told a virtual meeting of parliament's standing committee on defence. 

"The entire South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has been put on standby." 

The minister said the deployment was scaled up from just under 3,000 soldiers to more than 73,000, including reserve forces, as the government realised the enormity of the health threat and the logistics involved in supporting the police in enforcing the national lockdown imposed on March 27.

Mapisa-Nqakula said the military's duties will include helping the police man roadblocks and carry out search and seizure operations, but soldiers and military medical staff will also shore up the work being done by health care officials, including mass screening for infections. 

Soldiers may also be called on to handle the bodies of those who die in the pandemic, she added.

The minister deplored the negative publicity the military deployment has received in recent weeks. 

A man died in Alexandra township after he was beaten by soldiers and footage proliferated on social media of soldiers manhandling members of the public.

"Of course this has had a negative impact on the work of the SANDF, because people now tend to focus on all these negative incidents to the complete exclusion of the good work being done," she said.

"Some of our people still don't understand that ours is to enforce the law for their protection."

Mapisa-Nqakula said photos of soldiers helping elderly citizens "should go viral" instead.

She said she did not wish to speak to the death of Collins Khoza in Alexandra because the matter was under investigation by the military police and ombudsman, and was furthermore sub judice because his family intends suing the state.

"It is an unfortunate incident and of course we are concerned that a human being has died."

African News Agency