No secret meeting on new arms deals for defence committee

I will be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Stanley Motimele, requesting him to explain why he has scheduled a "closed meeting" on defence acquisition on 23 July 2013.

The Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans oversight programme includes a briefing by the Department of Defence and Armscor between 09h00 and 16h00 on Tuesday 23 July 2013 at Defence Headquarters in Pretoria. 

The purpose of the meeting according to the programme is to provide "a comprehensive briefing on the current defence acquisition plan and procedure; as well as defence materiél required for the Defence Force to perform its duties and missions."

However, the programme clearly indicates that the meeting will be a "closed meeting" because, according to the programme, "given the expected sensitive nature of information that will be presented to the Committee (and which is linked to defence and national security), approval to hold this meeting in camera will be sought from the Speaker of the National Assembly.

That a meeting has been scheduled on defence acquisition by the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans is a positive development because for the past four years no detailed briefing on defence acquisition has been provided to Parliament.

The former Minsiter of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, refused to disclose any information about project names, the goods and/or services being acquired, the delivery schedules, or budgets for any defence acquisition projects on the Strategic Capital Acquisition Master Plan.

The Secretary of Defence, Dr. Sam Gulube, consistently refuses to reply to questions about defence acquisition from members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans. Details about defence acquisition are "not for public consumption" according to Dr. Gulube.

This is bizarre because there is a significant amount of information about existing defence acquisition projects such as "Project Hoefyster" (acquisition of infantry vehicles), "Project Saucepan" (acquisition of maritime surveillance aircraft) and "Project Biro" (acquisition of offshore patrol vessels) already in the public domain.

The Department of Defence will channel R27.2 billion through the Special Defence Account between 2009/10 and 2013/14. A significant proportion of this money is believed to be spent on defence acquisition. However, Parliament has never been briefed on how money, channelled through the Special Defence Account, has been spent.

I will, therefore, be writing to the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Stanley Motimele, requesting him to:

• Disclose whether the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, or the Chief of the South African National Defence Force, General Solly Shoke, or any other person requested a "closed meeting" on defence acquisition and, if so, to provided the committee with copies of all the relevant correspondence;
• Disclose whether he has been in contact with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu, to request approval for a "closed meeting" and, if so, to provide the committee with copies of all the relevant correspondence; and
• To provide justification to schedule a "closed meeting" on defence acquisition.

We are not going to sit back and allow the details of new arms deals to be swept under the carpet at Parliament.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, July 17 2013

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