Soldiers who protested at the Union Buildings on Wednesday were ”disgraceful” and ”unbecoming” and had placed the nation in danger, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Lindiwe Sisulu said in Cape Town.
”This ministry can not tolerate acts of lawlessness and anarchy by our uniformed soldiers,” Sisulu said at a press conference attended by Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa.
”The rolling national protest marches by Sandu [South African National Defence Union] constitute a serious and immediate threat to national security and will severely compromise the ability of the president of the republic as commander in chief to have soldiers available and ready for deployment in the event they are needed.”
Sisulu said she had instructed the head of the defence force to suspend those involved in the protest immediately.
Between 1Â 000 and 1Â 200 took part in the protest, she said.
Those involved had committed a ”despicable act of ill discipline.
”The behaviour of the members of the defence force who took part in the protest was disgraceful and unbecoming,” she said.
Two soldiers had been arrested and handed over to the military police.
Sisulu said she had asked her legal team to look at the possibility of opposing bail for two soldiers who had been arrested.
Mthethwa said he concurred with what Sisulu had said and promised to use ”the full might of law”.
The soldiers began to disperse from the lawns of the Union Buildings at about 4.10pm after they were given an ultimatum and warned that force would be used against them.
Earlier in the day police used rubber bullets and teargas to disperse them when they tried to climb over the fence into the property.
The soldiers on the lawn said they refused to leave, despite a memorandum detailing their grievances having been handed to the area police commissioner.
At 3.45pm strikers were given an ultimatum that unless they dispersed ”necessary force” may be used. These may include water cannons, teargas and more rubber bullets.
A policeman and several soldiers were injured when the fracas broke out.
Several police and military vehicles were damaged by a petrol bomb.
On Wednesday morning the High Court in Pretoria declared a planned march by the soldiers to the Union Buildings illegal.
The court dismissed an application by Sandu to force the army to release its soldiers to take part in the protest march, said Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans spokesperson Ndivhuwo Mabaya. — Sapa