DURBAN - The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) vows to go on a fact-finding mission, investigate, and bring to book those who starved their deployed troops in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, Brigadier General Mafi Mgobozi said that the starving of soldiers and failure to allocate resources and ensuring that troops were taken care of should not have happened if someone had done their job.
This comes after the Daily News exposed the dire conditions the soldiers were subjected to in Kwazulu-Natal, where one of the soldiers was rushed to hospital after collapsing from hunger.
Following our inquiries to the SANDF, Mgobozi said that the Defence commanders would attend to the issue and ensure that food was provided.
By midnight on August 25, troops received their food allowance. The South African National Defence Union (SANDU) welcomed this.
“As we previously indicated, we acknowledge there were administrative challenges which could have easily be prevented. We will investigate further and nail those who caused the damage. Heads must roll. We cannot have people who fail to do their job and compromise our troops.”
“On the issue of our soldiers in KwaZulu-Natal, we have sent our commanders to visit the soldiers on the ground to speak to them about these issues. We need to motivate them and reassure them that this will never happen again,” said Mgobozi.
Mgobozi also mentioned that various organisations and businesses have since offered food and assisted with accommodation as some of the soldiers didn’t have adequate accommodation where they are deployed.
Speaking on the budget cut for the military, he said: “The issue of budget cuts is having a negative impact on soldiers ability to carry out their mandate as the defence requires a lot of resources.”
In May this year, former Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in her budget vote speech that the reduction of over R15 billion in the medium-term expenditure framework had placed the department in a very difficult position.
“We must inform this House of the negative impact our declining allocation has had and will continue to have on the Department of Defence in general – our military capabilities in particular and our ability to meet our operational responsibilities assigned to us as well as our international obligations,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.
She also said while they were fully aware of the fiscal challenges that South Africa had, the reduction to their allocation had had a devastating impact not only on the SA National Defence Force but also on the defence industry and defence-related industry.
Daily News