India, March 12 -- Soldiers were deployed on the streets of South Africa's biggest city on Wednesday after the president announced plans last month to use the army to help police fight gang violence and illegal mining.

The soldiers were seen in the Johannesburg suburb of Riverlea in the first major deployment since President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his annual speech to the nation that organised crime was the greatest threat to South Africa's democracy and economic development.

South Africa's police and the Department of Defence, which oversees the military, did not immediately provide details on the deployment.

Ramaphosa said in a notice to the Speaker of Parliament that 550 soldiers would be involved in an initial deployment in the Ga...