Chairperson, the ACDP joins other speakers in honouring our soldiers and airmen who died in the service of their country this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with them and their families.
Many questions were put to the Minister during the briefing on the Central African Republic engagement; questions about the lack of military intelligence, logistics, medical and air support; and the reasons for the deployment itself.
We may never know the finer details of what actually led up to and happened during that battle. But what is abundantly clear is that our troops fought with exceptional bravery against overwhelming odds. Of this we can all be very proud. We in the ACDP salute them.
Members of 1 Parachute Battalion - and I see sons of their members up in the gallery - indeed lived up to their motto "Ex Alto Vincimus": We conquer from above. But it would have been helpful had they had additional air support to fully live up to their motto. Whilst fingers have been pointed to many in the Ministry and at the chiefs of staff, is it not so that we in this very House also let down our troops? Previous speakers referred to the underbudget, the underfunding of this department. Yes, hon Maynier referred to the R4, 6 billion that is hidden somewhere. We as MPs have the power to interrogate this and the power to grant additional funds, but we are not exercising those powers. We need to accept responsibility for that. [Applause.]
It was also not helpful for President Zuma to say that so many people want to have a say in how the country is run. I am sure he did not refer to the MPs, because we clearly have a constitutional duty to ensure that all executive organs of state are accountable to Parliament.
President Zuma, as we know, has to report to Parliament when troops are deployed. And it would be a serious omission if, as was pointed out, there was a helicopter deployed to the Democratic Republic of the Congo that we were not aware of to help with the CAR. We hope that there will be an explanation for that.
Soldiers on the ground are unable to question political decisions that may result in their being placed in harm's way. They are expected to merely obey orders. Lord Tennyson's famous poem says, "Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die." But it is our responsibility as MPs to ask the hard questions. They rely on us to hold the executive accountable. They must be sure that we exercise our oversight capabilities so that they can obey orders without any questions being asked. We exercise final oversight and all the troops and these troops that are here with their families expect nothing less.
Let us make sure that the Department of Defence, the SA National Defence Force are sufficiently funded to carry out their mandate correctly. Thank you. [Applause.]