Members of Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence held a virtual meeting earlier today (April 22). The committee discussed, amongst others, matters relating to the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in other countries, and cooperative efforts in assisting the South African Police Service in order to maintain law and order on the domestic front.
Related article: Defence committee praises the work of security forces during lockdown
One of the issues tabled was the efforts of SANDF in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Committee chairman, Vusumuzi Cyril Xaba confirmed that members of the SANDF were still carrying out international duties. He added that there were 200 soldiers in the Mozambique Channel supporting efforts against piracy and 1165 in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of the United Nations stability missions in that war-torn country. Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Noluthando Mapisa-Nqakula pointed out that these soldiers would have had to have had their employment contracts signed by the president prior to the lockdown in order for this to continue.
The minister reminded the meeting that the SANDF was fully committed to assisting the country deal with the pandemic, using all its available resources. “We have an entity called the South African Military Health Services and therefore the expectation is that we will be guided by the national Department of Health in whatever intervention may be necessary from our side,” she said. Mapisa-Nqakula added that the military police, defence intelligence, legal services, operational communications, chaplain services, signal communications, technical services and the finance accounting centre had also been made available in the fight against the coronavirus.
She touched on the sensitive topic of the military possibly being called upon to assist with the interment of Covid-19 victims should it become necessary. “In South Africa, as in other countries, we may see an escalation in the death rate as the exponential curves goes up. Once that happens, the defence force will be expected to step in and assist.”
The committee applauded the security forces for the manner in which they had been fulfilling their mandate. Committee member Sarel Jacobus Francois Marais said, “The defence force must be complimented. Yes, there was a bit of a hiccup initially in terms of cases reported to the military ombud but otherwise they have done extremely well and I think praise is due to the minister and the defence force leadership.”
