Accountability Demanded From Corruption-Plagued Defence Department

Statement by Nicholas Gotsell MP – DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice:

The Democratic Alliance welcomes the short-term deployment of the SANDF to support SAPS in combating illegal mining and gang violence. Our communities urgently need this intervention; in fact, it should already have been fully operational.

Given that the deployment was announced on 12 February 2026, one would have expected that the necessary planning, training, and command structures were already in place, particularly if proper consultation had occurred with the relevant security agencies prior to the President’s SONA announcement. Yet, this was far from the actual reality.

However, in three subsequent parliamentary meetings, no clear information was provided on the training of deployed members, command and control structures, joint operational coordination, or the criteria that will be used to determine which areas qualify to be served by Operation Prosper.

As recently as last Friday’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence meeting, the SANDF was still unable to provide these assurances to Parliament. Yet, by Sunday, both the Chief SANDF and National Commissioner of the SAPS were ready to hold a joint media briefing announcing the deployment.

The question is clear: what changed within 48 hours and why was Parliament not informed?

This lack of transparency is deeply concerning, particularly as this deployment places R823 million in public funds in the hands of a Department currently under extensive investigation by the Hawks and the SIU, involving between R2.1 billion and R2.5 billion in suspected corruption.

These include:

• the R217 million Cuban Interferon procurement of a so-called “Covid drug”, where almost the entire stock was unusable.
• R273.5 million in irregular PPE contracts involving inflated pricing and collusion during the same period; and
• hundreds of millions of rands spent on systems and equipment that were never used.

The Auditor-General has repeatedly flagged the Department for persistent procurement failures, weak controls, and a lack of consequence management – a pattern that cannot be ignored. This is evident from SANDF Generals’ continuous purchasing of luxury vehicles, flashy refurbishment of state houses, and their Minister being abroad every time she is meant to account to Parliament.

Whilst one cannot place a price tag on our communities’ safety, the DA will on Friday, when the Joint Standing Committee on Defence meets to discuss the President’s letter of employment, exercise strict oversight over this deployment to ensure that it does not become another avenue for large-scale looting.

Our troops deserve to be properly supported, properly resourced and properly led — and South Africans deserve the assurance that every rand allocated is spent as intended.