ANC MP praises soldiers for how they force public to do frog jumps

He said the reality was that people were finding it difficult to comply with the regulations and soldiers were just trying to help them.

“The videos making rounds on social media attest that in most, if not all, of those videos, it is our people who are assisted to be disciplined in order to save their lives.”

He accused the public of engaging in selective criticism, saying there had been videos showing police being stoned and having to run for their lives.

“When it’s members of society doing that to the police, nobody says anything. But when [soldiers] are applying simple measures that actually seek to discipline these people and ensure that there is enforcement of regulations, it’s a hullaballoo.”

Speaking to the SABC on Monday morning, the defence minister pleaded with members of the army to refrain from using excessive force against the citizenry and to remember that they had been deployed to protect the citizenry and not abuse them.

She further urged communities not to provoke law enforcement officials deployed in the wake of the nationwide lockdown, called on them to stay at home and for members of the security personnel to “not allow themselves to be pushed to the edge by people who are trying to prove a point”.

READ: WATCH: Police and SANDF force Soweto residents to do hard exercise as punishment

The minister said she was unhappy about the videos.

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, however, dismissed complaints that the army was more visible in the country’s black townships compared to the suburbs.

“We are all over the place where there is a high concentration of people,” she said.

The minister added it was unfortunate that where regulations for the lockdown were mostly being violated it was in townships such as Alexandra and Soweto in Gauteng, and Khayelitsha in the Western Cape.

The DA has nevertheless called on the Military Ombudsman to investigate the SANDF.

DA shadow minister of defence and military veterans MP Kobus Marais said on Monday: “The DA strongly condemns videos making the rounds on social media of SANDF members forcing civilians, who allegedly did not abide by the lockdown regulations, to do squats and push-ups.”

Marais described the SANDF members’ behaviour as “disgusting” and said the DA condemned their actions in “the strongest terms”. He said the party wrote to Masondo after the videos were seen as they were “a gross violation of the military’s mandate and of the Bill of Rights”.

Marais said although the DA agreed that those who did not comply with the lockdown regulations should face the consequences for their actions, but the party condemned “any act which seeks to humiliate and degrade citizens”.

“South Africa is a constitutional democracy, not a military state.

DA interim leader John Steenhuisen asked if people would find the SANDF actions so funny if it was happening to a family member.

“History has shown us that it starts with push-ups, but always end in a more sinister way,” he said.

However, DA member of the Gauteng legislature Makashule Gana agreed with the approach as “the best way to deal with them”.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers)