Minister of Defence acknowledges defence force was unprepared

The acknowledgement by the minister of Defence, Ms. Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, that the national defence force had neither been prepared for or expected the rebels to attack them in the Central African Republic (CAR), confirms that the government had failed the defence force.

Through this the minister acknowledges that there was insufficient support and in particular insufficient information support for the troops in the CAR.

Serious questions now have to be asked about the capability of Military Intelligence (MI) which could not provide information which would have prevented the situation.

One of these is how the minister and president Jacob Zuma were incorrectly advised before the decision was taken to send troops to the CAR.

The information was clearly not accurate and MI has to take the responsibility for this.An investigation should now be undertaken about why MI had failed in this instance and did not fulfil its duties properly.

Statement issued by Mr. Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus chief spokesperson: Defence, April 4 2013

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