Where is the second MoU with the CAR?

Minister of Defence, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, must urgently provide the second Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for defence cooperation with the Central African Republic. The second MoU was signed in December 2012 and apparently differs from the previous MoU signed in 2007.

The MoU is a treaty and public document, as the Minister herself pointed out, which should be readily available. However, despite extensive attempts by the DA to track down the new MoU, it is nowhere to be found.

Once a treaty is signed it must immediately be sent to the Treaty Section of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO). The Treaty Section will then stamp it and monitor it, alerting the Department to its stated deadlines and obligations.

It is extremely concerning that nearly five months later, the MoU is still not with the Treaty Section of DIRCO and that the section was not even aware of it until the DA attempted to track it down.

The Minister stated last week in the Joint Standing Committee on Defence meeting that the second MoU differs from the previous one signed in 2007. She claimed that under this MoU South Africa was mandated to participate in disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration in the CAR.

I have written to the Minister today to ask that she provide me with a copy of the second MoU as a matter of urgency.

This raises the question as to whether the Department of Defence is trying to hide the real reasons for the deployment of the SANDF in the CAR or whether it was pure administrative incompetence.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, April 9 2013

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