DA calls for probe into alleged bribery at Beitbridge Border Post by SANDF officers

15 November 2021

Note to Editors: Please find  attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Kobus Marais MP

The DA will write to Minister of Defence Thandi Modise to request that an independent investigation is launched into allegations of corruption and bribery at the Beitbridge Border Post involving officers of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

This follows the Carte Blanche exposé on Sunday which showed SANDF soldiers seemingly accepting bribes on the South Africa-Zimbabwe border from those seeking to enter the country illegally.

This brazen corruption by the very people tasked with maintaining law and order at our borders is indicative of a much larger problem of a lack of executive oversight and the general rot that has seeped into the Department of Defence and the SANDF. The situation also further fuels the public’s mistrust in the army and animosity between South Africans and immigrants who enter the country legally.

It is therefore imperative that Minister Modise launches an independent investigation that will guarantee that the officers implicated are held accountable for their unlawful behaviour as well as for abandoning and disobeying their constitutional roles, obligations and mandate. The investigation should also seek to find solutions that will ensure that this type of illegal activity is not repeated.

The Department is expected to appear before the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence on Wednesday and the DA will use this opportunity to get answers from the Department.

Issued by Kobus Marais, DA Shadow Minister of Defence, 15 November 2021