/ 25 April 2013

Presidency: No contradiction between Zuma and Motlanthe on CAR

Presidency: No Contradiction Between Zuma And Motlanthe On Car

This after Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe assured Parliament in response to MPs' questions on Wednesday that South Africa was not planning to send soldiers back to the CAR. 

"With a very straight face, clear conscience, I deny that the government is planning to send troops to the Central African Republic," Motlanthe said when answering questions in the National Assembly, to a rapturous applause from MPs.

While Motlanthe was making that assurance, Bloomberg reported earlier in the day that South Africa is willing to send troops back to the central African country, quoting President Jacob Zuma as saying that "if we [South Africa] did not go, it would not be in keeping with our policy".

In the Bloomberg article, Zuma, however, made it clear the request for South African soldiers was made as a "verbal appeal" when central Africa's regional leaders were discussing interim CAR president and rebel leader Michel Djotodia's plea for multinational forces to help return law and order to his country. 

Zuma's spokesperson Mac Maharaj said there was no contradiction between what Motlanthe and Zuma said because indeed government was not currently looking at deploying soldiers to CAR.

"The request at this stage has only been a verbal request. Once we've received a formal request from the central African community and possibly the African Union, it will be given a sympathetic consideration."

Thirteen South African soldiers were killed by Seleka rebels who toppled former CAR president François Bozizé and violently took control of the capital Bangui. Angry opposition parties represented in Parliament, including the official opposition Democratic Alliance, called for a formal inquiry into the South African National Defence Force's deployment to CAR.

The soldiers were deployed on a bilateral agreement between the governments of South Africa and CAR, but South Africa has made it clear it would, in line with its policy on Africa, assist where it can to bring stability to the continent.