Chairperson, the SA National Defence Force in its totality has a very defensive posture; we do not have an aggressive posture. This also goes for the SA Navy. We have very good relations with Africa. We have memoranda of understanding with most African countries and we are continuously engaged in training programmes with countries that we have relationships with. This is one of the matters that we have been involved in with the SAS Drakensberg around the Gulf of Guinea. Therefore, I wish to confirm that we had no intention to have an aggressive posture in this particular instance or at any other time. I thank you.
Requests received by government to send warships into seas near to and/or in the vicinity of (a) Somalia, (b) Kenya and/or (c) Tanzania and details relating thereto 2. Mr R A Lees (DA) asked the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans:
Whether the government has received any requests to send warships into the seas near to and/or in the vicinity of (a) Somalia, (b) Kenya and/or (c) Tanzania; if not, why was the request turned down; if so, (i) where did the requests come from, (ii) what was the purpose of sending the warship(s) and (iii) what are the details of the warship(s) that were sent?