OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday
THE army captain who apparently used pictures of President Thabo Mbeki and other government leaders as shooting targets is the victim of a “smear campaign”, Beeld newspaper reports. The captain is innocent and a highly respected member of the National Defence Force, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota told reporters on Tuesday.
Lekota said he “worked through the night to formulate a statement to the nation” on the allegations, and added that the entire issue was misrepresented and was an attempt to discredit Captain Thomas Klaasen, head of a unit responsible for training soldiers to protect VIPs.
The pictures of the leaders were used to familiarise members of the National Ceremonial Guard with the images of those people they had to protect, he said.
For the purpose of the shooting exercise at Thaba Tshwane, Pretoria, in June this year, the pictures were set up along with others to simulate a real-life situation.
In the process of shooting, the leaders’ pictures were hit as well, Lekota explained. “This exercise … was perfectly legitimate and carried out by an officer and subordinates loyal to this government determined to get themselves ready to protect the leaders of this government.”
All of the 20 soldiers who participated in the exercise did so from start to finish and none of them had complained about it, the newspaper said.
It was earlier reported that Klaasen had resigned. But Lekota said he would remain in government service, and would in fact move to a job with a higher profile.
Lekota said Klaasen was a dedicated and committed member of the SA National Defence Force. “I say this from the bottom of my heart. It has been an extremely unfortunate situation. Captain Klaasen is a coloured person from the Karoo, one of the small, really poor communities of the Cape. He has been a victim of racial victimisation.”
According to Beeld reports, Klaasen was initially highly upset about the allegations. He did not want to comment on the matter. Klaasen apparently will take up a high profile position with the Reserve Bank in the near future.