DA calls on the President to furnish Parliament with full details of SANDF deployment to Mozambique

25 July 2021

The DA calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to furnish Parliament with the full details of the South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) apparent deployment to Mozambique last week. 

The DA has reliably learned that 1495 soldiers have been employed to Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region, as part of the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Standby Force last Monday. However, Parliament has not yet been notified by the President as is required by Section 201 of the Constitution. 

We have serious concerns about the deployment. Particularly, how it will be funded and resourced. We cannot allow another CAR embarrassment and unnecessary death of our soldiers on foreign ground, especially given it is the same commanding officer involved . 

The public require the full details of the number number of soldiers who have been deployed, their mandate, how they will be resourced, and the period they will be deployed. 

The President must therefore inform Parliament of this deployment without further delay.

Issued by Kobus Marais, DA Shadow Minister of Defence, 25 July 2021