There was nothing wrong with the hostage situation, insists military veteran

While a group of military veterans were outside the Pretoria Central police station on Friday in the hopes their 56 colleagues arrested for holding Cabinet ministers hostage on Thursday would be released, Defence Minister Thandi Modise was adamant that charges would not be dropped.

A meeting between the military veterans and Modise, her deputy Thabang Makwetla and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele turned into a three-hour hostage situation at St George’s Hotel in Irene.

While the meeting was intended to address the veterans’ longstanding issues, such as housing, grants and healthcare, and for Modise and her team to give feedback on the work done by the presidential task team, some of
them locked the door as the meeting was about to conclude.

The military veterans were demanding that President Cyril Ramaphosa and his deputy David Mabuza be present as they were the heads of state, according to Gungubele.

“It’s not fair to expect the president to be everywhere whenever he is needed,” Gungubele said on Friday.

“We were the machinery last night. The military veterans were not prepared to accept that. They said they could not proceed with us. As we were proceeding to the doors, we realised the doors were locked.

“We were there against our will, but it was not a violent stay.”

Video footage, however, shows otherwise. Tables and chairs across the meeting room were overturned. Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said they resorted to a “tactical approach” to rescue the hostages when negotiations failed.

Modise could not, however, not confirm if stun grenades were used to rescue the officials.

But she said she did hear loud bangs during the rescue process.

While 56 of the veterans were immediately arrested, there was no intention of dropping the charges despite the military veterans being among those who “went through hell” to fight for the country’s liberation, said Modise.

“You can’t hold people against their will and then say you will release them.

“We don’t want to set a precedent that [you] can commit any violation and the law will be put aside because [you are] a military veteran.

“Legitimate as [your] grievances might be, [you are] still a citizen.”

Meanwhile, those who did not join the dramatic meeting were demonstrating outside the Pretoria Central police station on Friday, demanding the release of the arrested veterans.

Those demonstrating also included their family members. Military veteran Johannes Mphahlele said the hostage situation was necessary as they had been raising the same complaints since 2001.

“There was nothing wrong with the hostage situation. These people don’t listen.

“We have been fighting this since 2001, when it was Terror Lekota.

“All these ministers have fixed nothing. Thandi Modise is sitting on someone else’s mess and it will be hard for us to push her to do things now because she inherited it,” said Mphahlele outside the police station.

– rorisangk@citizen.co.za