Note to Editors: These remarks were delivered during today’s parliamentary debate by ActionSA’s Parliamentary Leader, Athol Trollip MP, on the casualties incurred by the SANDF in the DRC.
Madam Speaker,
None of us can feign surprise at why we are debating the tragic loss of 14 of our soldiers’ lives in the Eastern DRC.
It is clear that we have learned no lessons from the fateful battle of Bangui in the Central African Republic and that perennial budget cuts have emasculated our defence force.
In fact, the hollowing out of our SANDF began with the corrupt manipulation of arms procurement facilitated by the erstwhile President Zuma and his associates Shabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni.
This not only placed the defence force in a precarious financial position, but it has also continued to constrain its operational effectiveness due to the unaffordable maintenance and lack of capacity to deploy the said armaments.
This has been compounded by progressively ineffectual and inexperienced ministerial and military leadership appointments.
On the 15th of July, my ActionSA colleague, Hon. Lerato Ngobeni, outlined the inevitable consequences of the systemic hollowing out of the SANDF’s capabilities in the Defence Committee. She warned of the dire consequences for our sovereignty and the lives of our men and women in uniform.
She asked the Minister, “How many more lives must be sacrificed before this government acknowledges the urgent need to overhaul the state of our armed forces?”
You, Minister, studiously ignored this question because you are clearly out of your depth, and our national security is not only compromised by this, but the SANDF is rudderless.
Now, six months later, we mourn the deaths of 14 brave soldiers, whose decomposing remains have yet to be repatriated, not to mention the absence of any plausible casualty evacuation plans for our wounded.
This catastrophic failure of leadership was brutally exposed at the joint extraordinary committee of defence last week, where the Ministry and the Generals presented like hares in the spotlight, uninspiring and hapless.
The Deputy Minister (a general) appeared bemused and, at times, even surprised as he too listened to the defensive denialism. His silence in the Committee is why ActionSA opposes the existence of the Deputy Minister. They are impractical, ineffectual, and superfluous.
Our warning fell on deaf ears. Our ill-equipped, under-resourced, demoralised, and outgunned soldiers were sent to fight in a war in which we have no “apparent” demonstrable interest, and they were set up to fail and die.
I am proud that in October, we rejected this government’s reckless attempt to throw an additional R2 billion at our deployment in the DRC through a Section 16 Appropriation authorised by the President.
We refused to support this stupidity then, and we are even more determined now to demand its end. As confirmed by Minister Motshekga’s own reply to my parliamentary question, this deployment is devoid of strategy, lacks a clear national interest, suffers from inadequate capacitation, and, frankly, has no defensible reason to continue.
If it has not been made clear before, let me leave no room for doubt on where we go from here:
1. Minister Angie Motshekga must resign or be fired before the end of the day.
2. Withdraw our troops from the Eastern DRC immediately.
3. All those responsible for the ill-conceived deployment, inadequate logistical support, and ineffectual command ought to be charged with culpable dereliction.
4. The immediate establishment of a defence review commission led by independent experts, not insiders protecting their own failures.
5. No more deployment of SANDF troops beyond our borders until all of these issues, including adequate funding, are addressed.
Defence Minister Must Resign in Shame Today, and Incompetent Generals Must Be Charged with Dereliction of Duty
Note to Editors: These remarks were delivered during today’s parliamentary debate by ActionSA’s Parliamentary Leader, Athol Trollip MP, on the casualties incurred by the SANDF in the DRC.
Madam Speaker,
None of us can feign surprise at why we are debating the tragic loss of 14 of our soldiers’ lives in the Eastern DRC.
It is clear that we have learned no lessons from the fateful battle of Bangui in the Central African Republic and that perennial budget cuts have emasculated our defence force.
In fact, the hollowing out of our SANDF began with the corrupt manipulation of arms procurement facilitated by the erstwhile President Zuma and his associates Shabir Shaik and Tony Yengeni.
This not only placed the defence force in a precarious financial position, but it has also continued to constrain its operational effectiveness due to the unaffordable maintenance and lack of capacity to deploy the said armaments.
This has been compounded by progressively ineffectual and inexperienced ministerial and military leadership appointments.
On the 15th of July, my ActionSA colleague, Hon. Lerato Ngobeni, outlined the inevitable consequences of the systemic hollowing out of the SANDF’s capabilities in the Defence Committee. She warned of the dire consequences for our sovereignty and the lives of our men and women in uniform.
She asked the Minister, “How many more lives must be sacrificed before this government acknowledges the urgent need to overhaul the state of our armed forces?”
You, Minister, studiously ignored this question because you are clearly out of your depth, and our national security is not only compromised by this, but the SANDF is rudderless.
Now, six months later, we mourn the deaths of 14 brave soldiers, whose decomposing remains have yet to be repatriated, not to mention the absence of any plausible casualty evacuation plans for our wounded.
This catastrophic failure of leadership was brutally exposed at the joint extraordinary committee of defence last week, where the Ministry and the Generals presented like hares in the spotlight, uninspiring and hapless.
The Deputy Minister (a general) appeared bemused and, at times, even surprised as he too listened to the defensive denialism. His silence in the Committee is why ActionSA opposes the existence of the Deputy Minister. They are impractical, ineffectual, and superfluous.
Our warning fell on deaf ears. Our ill-equipped, under-resourced, demoralised, and outgunned soldiers were sent to fight in a war in which we have no “apparent” demonstrable interest, and they were set up to fail and die.
I am proud that in October, we rejected this government’s reckless attempt to throw an additional R2 billion at our deployment in the DRC through a Section 16 Appropriation authorised by the President.
We refused to support this stupidity then, and we are even more determined now to demand its end. As confirmed by Minister Motshekga’s own reply to my parliamentary question, this deployment is devoid of strategy, lacks a clear national interest, suffers from inadequate capacitation, and, frankly, has no defensible reason to continue.
If it has not been made clear before, let me leave no room for doubt on where we go from here:
1. Minister Angie Motshekga must resign or be fired before the end of the day.
2. Withdraw our troops from the Eastern DRC immediately.
3. All those responsible for the ill-conceived deployment, inadequate logistical support, and ineffectual command ought to be charged with culpable dereliction.
4. The immediate establishment of a defence review commission led by independent experts, not insiders protecting their own failures.
5. No more deployment of SANDF troops beyond our borders until all of these issues, including adequate funding, are addressed.