Malfeasance and corruption in the Defence Force and its entities cannot be ignored, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Mr Dakota Legoete, said yesterday.
He was speaking during a briefing from the Department of Defence on quarterly expenditure and the challenges it has encountered in executing its mandate. The Auditor-General’s office, the Special Investigative Unit and the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation also briefed the committee on malfeasance and corruption in the department and its entities.
Mr Legoete said the committee appreciated the fact that there are a lot of good officers working in the Defence Force, but also noted that there are bad apples that need to be removed. “The challenges we are facing as the Defence today are not only due to underfunding. There is a general ill-discipline in the Defence Force, which is responsible for the decline of the national Defence Force. We need to isolate the bad elements, as they are compromising the national security of our country.”
The committee appreciated the work done by loyal members of the Defence Force, particularly in protecting South Africans, and urged them to continue while solutions are being attended to. “We are going to isolate wrong elements in the system; that work must not wait for the next portfolio committee or administration. We cannot allow criminals to take over our national security, or it will collapse. This committee will not allow anarchy and plundering of military resources to continue. Someone must take responsibility; we cannot kill the SANDF – our only defense mechanism to vulnerability.”
Mr Legoete said defending South Africans was one of the three functions of a credible state, otherwise it would have no claim to legitimacy.
The committee requested monthly reports on old corruption cases that have been difficult to finalise. The Deputy Minister of Police, Dr Polly Boshielo, said the challenge was that the military police took a long time to refer to cases and then army officers refused to cooperate with them.
Mr Legoete also asked for an interim report to be prepared for the President on all the pending corruption cases. “In the interim, the Military Council commanders should be kept abreast of all these corruption cases so that they are aware of the threat South Africa faces.”
