SANDF sidelines Parliament’s oversight Side Lines Parliament’s Oversight

Statement by Chris Hattingh MP – DA Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans:

The Democratic Alliance (DA) formally recorded serious concerns about the grossly insufficient information provided in today’s draft report session outlining SANDF deployments. We object unequivocally to the SANDF’s continued sidelining of Parliament’s oversight by failing to deliver the legally-prescribed, timeous reporting and accounting on the reasons, location, personnel, and expenditure of these three deployments.

The SANDF cannot be deployed without Parliament being fully informed timeously on:

• The reason for deployment,
• The location of deployment,
• The personnel being deployed
• The exact Expenditure committed to the deployment.

The Joint Standing Committee on Defence today considered three SANDF deployments worth almost R111 million of tax-payer money – yet glaringly insufficient information was tabled to properly assess whether the money is being well spent and whether the missions are achieving their objectives.

Part of the breakdown in oversight is that the President’s deployment letters are unclear, and lacking sufficient detail.

While the DA supports the SANDF being deployed for the right reasons and with clear objectives, it can never be acceptable for military deployments to be made or to continue without Parliamentary oversight of their reasons, location, personnel and expenditure – timeously.

Today operations COPPER, THIBA and CLIMATE CHANGE were interrogated by Parliament, but the officials of the Department of Defence arrived unprepared, and unable to answer questions.

The continuation of Operation COPPER, aimed at protecting shipping and combating piracy off the Mozambique coast, raises important questions. Parliament has not been told what has been achieved by previous deployments, what capabilities will be used, or how the operation will be sustained given the Navy’s serious readiness problems. The Department also informed the Committee that there is currently no signed operational directive for the Operation COPPER deployment.

The DA supports the safe and orderly withdrawal of the SANDF from the Democratic Republic of Congo under Operation THIBA. After years of deployment and the tragic loss of South African soldiers, the mission must now be brought to a proper conclusion. However, Parliament still has no detailed withdrawal plan, no breakdown of the estimated R37.7 million cost, and no assurance that all SANDF equipment will be recovered. Taxpayers deserve to know that this final phase is being managed efficiently and that lessons have been learnt from the deployment.

The humanitarian assistance provided to Mozambique under Operation CLIMATE CHANGE reflects the SANDF at its best—saving lives during a regional disaster. However, Parliament was only informed after the deployment had already ended. Emergencies may require immediate action, but they should not come at the expense of timely parliamentary oversight.

South Africa’s Defence Force is operating under severe financial pressure. Aircraft are grounded, ships remain alongside, equipment is ageing and maintenance backlogs continue to grow. In these circumstances, every deployment and every rand spent must be properly justified.

The DA will continue to support SANDF deployments that are necessary and lawful, while insisting on greater transparency, proper planning, value for money and meaningful accountability to Parliament.