Defence Force transparency: Make the final report of the INDFSC public immediately

The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that the final report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission should be made public immediately. The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, has defaulted to obfuscation-and-delay in suggesting the decision to make the final report public somehow rests with Parliament.

The interim national defence force service commission was a ministerial commission, and it is the minister's prerogative to make the final report public. The fact is that the minister appears, for some reason, to have chosen not to make the final report public.

This does not come as a surprise since the minister, in her statement to the National Assembly on 16 November 2010, stated that:

"...parliament would have an opportunity to read the recommendations emanating from the report."

The impression was created back then that the minister did not want to release the complete final report to Parliament.

The fact is that it is in the public interest and in the defence force's interest that the final report should be made public.

The DA therefore calls on the minister to reconsider her decision and make the final report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission public immediately.

Statement issued by David Maynier, MP, Democratic Alliance Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, November 25 2010

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