Speaker, too many contradictory statements have been made about what really happened in the Central African Republic, CAR, where we lost 13 soldiers, and the reasons why the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, troops were there in the first place. The ACDP is on record for calling on President Zuma to institute a judicial commission of inquiry to look into allegations that include whether the SANDF acted outside their mandate when they were allegedly protecting business interests of some politically connected individuals in the CAR, and whether they protected the regime of the now deposed, former President, Francois Bozize, from his own people.
Subsection (3) of section 201 of the South African Constitution states, and I quote, "When the Defence Force is employed for any purpose mentioned in subsection (2), the President must inform Parliament promptly and in appropriate detail of (a) the reasons for the employment of the defence force ..."
The ACDP argues that unless government produces proof from the Hansard recording that this has been done, we will continue to maintain our opinion that the President did not inform Parliament in appropriate detail of why troops were in the Central African Republic.
The ACDP agrees with the SA National Defence Union's position that if government, particularly the SANDF, had nothing to hide, they would have answered the questions. Reports that there is now a witch-hunt driven by military intelligence to identify defence force personnel who spoke to the media are raising suspicion of a cover-up. Is this alleged witch-hunt not illegal and an abuse of power? How different is this alleged witch-hunt from apartheid-style tactics?
Have any of the media reports we have seen so far endangered military operations or troops in the Central African Republic? Is there someone in the military chain of command who gave an illegal order to our soldiers to protect some business interests? These are some of the questions that need to be answered. This witch-hunt must stop and we must get the answers.
The ACDP reiterates that a judicial commission of inquiry must be established to get to the whole truth behind what we believe is a CAR fiasco. Only transparency and honesty will bring this matter to closure, and not any form of intimidation and witch-hunts by whatever intelligence operatives.
The truth must be told. If anything illegal was done, then an apology must be given to the nation, particularly the families that lost their loved ones in what appears to be either a bogus mission to the CAR or a legitimate mission that was hijacked by individuals with personal agendas.