/ 19 November 2009

Defence ministry mum on ‘urgent’ action

The Defence Ministry has given no indication that intends to take swift action on an urgent report by the newly appointed defence commission.

Instead, in a bland statement issued on Thursday, it said merely that the commission’s call for better service conditions for soldiers echoed concerns raised earlier.

Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu appointed the body, formally known as the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission, to investigate the plight of soldiers after hundreds of defence force members ran amok at the Union Buildings in August.

It handed what it described as an ”urgent interim report” to Sisulu two weeks ago.

Although the document has not been made public, commission members told members of Parliament on Wednesday that soldiers’ barracks and conditions of service were ”subhuman” and ”a ticking time bomb”.

They said their report proposed interventions that should be undertaken without delay.

”The ministry notes that in its preliminary report, the commission has added its voice to many other stakeholders who have been saying for years that the conditions of service, among them the salaries and the living conditions, require urgent attention,” it said in its statement on Thursday.

Among those voices was Sisulu herself, according to the statement.

The ministry said it would receive a final report from the commission at the end of December.

This would include details of how to implement a permanent National Defence Force Service Commission. — Sapa