MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL DEFENCE UNION IN REACTION TO THE SPEECH BY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA AT THE MEMORIAL SERVICE OF SOLDIERS KILLED IN ACTION IN THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Tuesday, 2 April 2013, SANDU HQ PRETORIA
SANDU is deeply concerned by remarks made by President Jacob Zuma at the memorial service earlier today.
SANDU rejects the suggestion by the President that civil society should refrain from questioning military matters as this would be contrary to the national security and interests of South Africa. The SA constitution specifically provides for civilian oversight and accountability of the employment and deployment of SA's armed forces for the very reason that such accountability was non existent under apartheid and thus open to abuse. To suggest that as civil society we should simply forfeit this constitutional guarentee is tantamount to telling SA to tear up the constitution.
The President should not and can not hide behind sinister terms such as national security and national interests, or even peddle the idea that democracy has limits in its accountability. That rather sounds like the kind of nominal democracy practiced by Beijing.
SANDU urges South African society to keep on asking the questions raised in connection with CAR and not to heed to any kind of pressure which is aimed at undermining our rights as citizens to ask and ask again until proper and complete answers are given.
The President has today, for the first time, offered yet another explanation for the presence of hundreds of SA soldiers in CAR, saying that they were sent there to protect the instructors. This confirms the versions of the troops SANDU spoke to who said that they did not train any forces, a version that has consistently been denied by the Defence Force.
The fact is that it is highly unlikely that one would deploy the most specialised forces in the SANDF in their hundreds to protect but a few instructors. The only reasonable inference from such drastic measure is, judging by the nature and number of forces deployed, that there was reasonable foreseeability of SA troops becoming engaged in conflict.
If that were the case then it is clear that parliament was not made properly aware of this factor in obtaining the deployment mandate and further that the forces on the ground were in any event then not adequately equippped for such engagement. If engagement was a real forsawn possibility, then that would substantially and materially differ from the mandate which was indeed obtained for the deployment.
SANDU will not be intimidated into silence on these matters just because the questions seems to irk government to the extent of effectively denouncing the constitutional rights of all South Africans to know at all times tye exact details of the where, when and what regarding employment and deployment of the armed forces.
President Zuma says may the blood of the fallen soldiers promote peace in Africa -SANDU says may their blood promote accountability in South Africa.
Statement issued by Pikkie Greeff, SANDU national secretary, April 2 2013
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