Durban - THE SANDF has vowed to go on a fact-finding mission to investigate and bring to book those who “starved” their deployed troops in Kwazulu-Natal.
Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, SANDF spokesperson Brigadier General Mafi Mgobhozi said the starving of soldiers, the failure to allocate resources and ensure that troops were taken care of, should not have happened if someone had done their job.
This was 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, Mghobozi said that the defence commanders would attend to the issue and ensure that food was provided.
“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 and speak to them about these issues. We need to motivate them and reassure them that this will never happen again,” said Mghobozi.
He added that various organisations and businesses have since offered food and assisted with accommodation as some of the soldiers did not have adequate accommodation where they were deployed.
Speaking on the budget cut for the military, he said: “This is having a negative impact on the soldiers’ ability to carry out their mandate as the department requires a lot of resources.”
By midnight on Wednesday, troops received their food allowance. This was confirmed by the South African National Defence Union (Sandu) which welcomed the allocation of food allowance to its members.
In a statement released yesterday, Sandu secretary advocate JG Pikkie Greeff said the union will continue pushing for better funding of the troops.
“Sandu is of the view that had the SANDF been adequately funded then the seamless provision of rations to troops would not have been an issue in the first place as the SANDF would have had adequate access and usage of mobile ration supply vehicles and equipment for this deployment.
“Sandu therefore will not cease to propagate better funding of the SANDF and in this regard again expresses the hope that the new Minister of Defence will successfully pursue this issue,” said Greeff.
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 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 had also said that while they were fully aware of South Africa’s fiscal challenges, the reduction to their allocation had had a devastating impact not only on the SANDF, but on the defence industry and defence-related industries.
Daily News