‘We will moer them back’: Modise says SA not defenseless after fatal fire in Northern Cape

Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise says proper contingency plans need to be developed to handle disasters after six soldiers were killed in a veld fire in Northern Cape last week.

Modise visited the South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) combat training centre in Lohatla for the memorial service of the fire victims on Thursday.

The cause of the fire, which left three other soldiers with second-degree burns and also destroyed military equipment and vehicles, is being investigated by the authorities.

‘Plan accordingly’

Addressing the media on Thursday, Modise said the incident was “a lesson” and pointed out the training skills such as fire drills would need to be intensified.

The minister said it was not necessary to move the military training base to another area despite frequent fire incidents in recent times.

“Are we unnecessarily putting the soldiers at risk because we have fires that are unprecedented? I don’t think we are. Even before the fires, soldiers are sent here deliberately because this is a tough military training site. If the soldiers run away then what about the communities in this area? Should we uproot the communities too?” Modise said.

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She highlighted that more preventative measures are needed in order to handle such incidents in a preferably better manner.

“What we need to do is carefully relook at the situation and plan accordingly… that’s why I spoke about damming to make sure we have enough water at the base.

“In fact it might also get us into the space of using greywater for reuse because then we will be able to save resources and other things. I don’t think we should stop training [because] becoming a soldier is not like opting to sit behind a desk and even those who sit at the desk in the military face the risk,” the minister said.

It was been reported that the fire spread fast due to a sudden change in wind direction, with Modise on Thursday attributing this to climate change.

“The fires are unprecedented… the speed was also very interesting, but is South Africa the only country in these days of climate change that is experiencing fires? Cape Town has experienced many fires before. We can expect more fires to rage.”

‘We are blaming anybody’

Modise also said the SANDF was feeling the effects of budget cuts as it leaves less money for training and maintenance.

“Yes, [National] Treasury does not have an infinite pocket. Yes, we must relook at our priorities to [find out] what is of utmost importance to focus our resources at.”

She disputed the notion that the damage to military equipment due to the fire would leave South Africa vulnerable to attacks.

READ MORE: 7 SANDF members die in one day – What went wrong?

“They will have to think again because we will moer them back. There is enough [equipment] we can go draw on to defence this country.”

Modise said earlier it would be not a good idea for the SANDF to store all of the army’s equipment at one base.

Meanwhile, the minister stressed that investigations into the incident are underway.

“We are blaming anybody… we are into an inquiry. We will find out what happened [but] the fire was not started with us.”

Budget vote

In her May budget vote, Modise revealed the Department of Defence received a total of R51.1 billion in 2023/24, a decrease of approximately R500 million from the previous adjusted budget. 

Out of R51.1 billion, R30.6 billion was set as the ceiling for employee remuneration, totalling at least 64% of the budget.

Meanwhile, R800 million was set aside to fund the voluntary retrenchment plan of more than 1 500 personnel. At least 980 of them will come from the army.

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