Chairperson, the hon Minister has a well-earned reputation for turning the Department of Defence and Military Veterans into a state within a state. The previous Minister of Defence routinely replied to parliamentary questions concerning the Defence Force's strategic capital acquisition master plan, the Scamp.
We were provided with details concerning the Defence department's capital acquisition projects, but not any more. The Minister now claims in a reply to a recent written parliamentary question that the department is not at liberty to release this information to the public as it may compromise the security plans of the SA National Defence Force, and generate undue speculation within the country and the industry. The fact is that information was available on the Scamp, but now it is not. Would the Minister tell us what has changed?