New information on disaster in CAR shows need for urgent parliamentary inquiry

The new information emerging, concerning the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Central African Republic (CAR), underlines the need for a full-scale inquiry by Parliament. Reports today suggest that:

• senior military officers warned government about the precarious situation in the CAR;
• there was only one medical doctor on hand to provide medical support to approximately 200 soldiers; and
• soldiers were forced to beg for essential equipment from French paratroopers deployed in the CAR.

The SANDF soldiers evidently equipped themselves well under fire, in circumstances where they were vastly outnumbered by rebel forces, but in the end they appear to have been left dangling, without the necessary military support (see Beeld report).

We need to get to the bottom of why the SANDF was deployed in the CAR effectively to support President Francois Bozize. And we need to get to the bottom of how 13 of our soldiers died in the CAR.

Watty Watson, the Chief Whip of the Democratic Alliance, has therefore written to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu requesting the establishment of a multi-party ad hoc committee to conduct an inquiry into the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The Speaker may establish an ad hoc committee, in terms of Rule 214 (b), if the National Assembly is in a period of adjournment for a period of more than 14 days.

We have been advised that, since the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu is abroad, this matter will be dealt with by the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Nomaindia Mfeketo.

The multi-party ad hoc committee should comprise of members of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence and the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Development and should be tasked to inquire into a range of issues including:

• whether President Jacob Zuma authorized the deployment of the SANDF against the advice of the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, and the Military Command who reportedly recommended, earlier this year, that the 28 soldiers originally deployed in the CAR should be withdrawn;
• whether the president was warned by senior military officers about the precarious situation in the CAR before taking the decision to deploy more soldiers;
• whether the President effectively misled Parliament when he informed members of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence that the SANDF was being deployed in the CAR to assist with "capacity building of the CAR defence force" and to assist with the "implementation of the disarmament, demobilization and re-integration process";
• the role of the Department of International Relations and Development which appears to have been frozen out of decision-making on the deployment of the SANDF to the CAR;
• why the SANDF was deployed, in terms of a Memorandum of Understanding between South Africa and the CAR, rather than a mandate from the United Nations or the African Union;
• why the defence force was deployed, in the middle of what amounted to a civil war, with so little military support: there were no helicopter gunships to provide air support to SANDF soldiers or transport aircraft to evacuate SANDF soldiers from the CAR; and
• the exact circumstances under which 13 members of the SANDF were killed in the CAR

In the end, President Jacob Zuma's decision to deploy the SANDF in the CAR, effectively to support President Francois Bozize, has been a complete disaster.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, March 26 2013

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