Cabinet on Thursday warned of stronger police action against the organisers and participants of violent and destructive protests.
Police are investigating the illegal protest by soldiers that turned violent at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Soldiers who protested at the Union Buildings on Wednesday were ”disgraceful” and had placed the nation in danger, said Lindiwe Sisulu.
Lindiwe Sisulu condemned an illegal protest by about 3Â 000 soldiers who attempted to gain access to the Union Buildings on Wednesday.
A planned soldiers’ protest march against salaries and working conditions is irresponsible and unnecessary, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
South Africa’s ineffective border patrol poses a threat to the country’s security, a report by Parliament’s portfolio committee said on Thursday.
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/ 20 February 2009
TheSANDF is ”overstretched” but capable of assisting in the upcoming elections, Confederations Cup and Fifa World Cup.
Two South African soldiers have drowned in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Defence Minister Charles Nqakula announced on Wednesday.
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/ 16 September 2008
The South African Communist Party has taken a swipe at senior ANC members who left the army to make money from arms sales.
Defence secretary January Masilela died in a car accident in Bronkhorstspruit on Sunday, police have confirmed.
A senior South African National Defence Force administration clerk was on Monday jailed for five years for fraud involving more than R1-million.
The police and the SA defence force started with a week-long Soccer World Cup training exercise in and around Bloemfontein on Monday.
Another ATM is bombed in Gauteng as a media report reveals that explosives stolen from gold mines are being sold on the black market.
The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) and other youth bodies on Friday launched a campaign against xenophobia following the recent attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa. Briefing the media in Johannesburg, ANCYL president Julius Malema extended his apology and assured foreigners they were welcome in the country.
The recent xenophobic violence cannot be attributed to a single factor and is not necessarily the work of a so-called ”third force”, government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Thursday. ”In some cases, there is some evidence of copy-cat activities in which criminals took advantage of the news story to conduct criminal acts,” he said.
President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday called a wave of deadly attacks on migrants an ”absolute disgrace” and said his government would take all measures to bring those responsible to justice. Meanwhile, African National Congress president Jacob Zuma said all people in South Africa should be tolerant of one another.
South Africa’s security chief on Friday accused rightwingers linked to the former apartheid government of fanning xenophobic violence that has spread to Cape Town, the second largest city and tourist centre. At least 42 people have been killed and thousands driven from their homes in 12 days of attacks.
A Somali community in Johannesburg on Thursday accused police of firing live ammunition at its members as more xenophobic attacks were reported in Gauteng and former Cabinet minister Kader Asmal questioned claims of ‘third force’ involvement in the attacks.
The deployment of the army to areas hit by xenophobic attacks was long overdue, opposition parties said on Wednesday after President Thabo Mbeki’s nod to South African National Defence Force ”involvement”. South African police say 42 people have been killed in violence in Johannesburg that has raged for more than a week and 16 000 have been displaced.
The xenophobic attacks in Gauteng appeared to have subsided, a provincial spokesperson said on Wednesday. However, KwaZulu-Natal police are monitoring a possible outbreak of attacks there. ”There are no new reports of attacks,” said Thabo Masebe, deputy director of communications for the provincial government.
HIV-positive people will be able to join the South African National Defence Force after it admitted in the Pretoria High Court on Friday that its policies preventing HIV-positive people from employment, foreign deployment and promotion in the armed forces were unconstitutional.
It is impossible to have an HIV-free South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and a defence-force policy discriminating against people with HIV is unconstitutional, the Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday. Advocate Gilbert Marcus, SC argued that people should be assessed individually, since an individual who was HIV-positive was not necessarily sick.
A report by six former South African National Defence Force generals might lead to action being taken to address the violence in Zimbabwe, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said on Wednesday. He said President Thabo Mbeki was waiting for a report from the generals on the violence before considering appropriate action.
A union representing South African soldiers is to take the country’s armed forces to court on Thursday over alleged discrimination against HIV-infected personnel, the union said on Wednesday. The South African Security Forces’ Union accuses the South African National Defence Force of discriminating against HIV-infected people.
South Africa’s international land borders are as porous as the proverbial sieve, with tens of thousands of refugees streaming into the country each week, alongside gun-smugglers and drug-traffickers, says the Democratic Alliance (DA). The party called for the deployment of South African National Defence Force troops to the worst-affected border regions,
There has been a clear increase in the number of Zimbabweans trying to cross the border illegally into South Africa since the March 29 election, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said on Wednesday. The SANDF has three companies, which total more than 500 soldiers, patrolling the border in support of police border operations.
A Chinese ship carrying a shipment of arms and ammunition destined for Zimbabwe was not in South African territorial waters, a Defence Ministry spokesperson said on Monday in reaction to a claim that the An Yue Jiang was ”passing through South Africa’s territorial waters” in violation of a court order.
African National Congress (ANC) veteran Andrew Masondo died on Sunday, the ANC said on Monday. ”Masondo dedicated his life to the cause of the South African people, having served as a soldier since the early years of Umkhonto weSizwe,” the party said.
Free State Agriculture had to take the government to court to ensure the safety of farmers and farm workers because the government had failed them, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said on Thursday. ”Safety is a constitutional right. A Constitution not being applied is not worth the paper it is written on,” said the ACDP.
The Pretoria High Court has issued an interim interdict to restrain the government from relocating people from the former Pomfret military base in the North West. The order also brings a temporary halt to the demolishing of property in the town. Judge Brian Southwood granted an urgent court order to the 6 000-strong Pomfret community.
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/ 29 February 2008
The issue of the Khutsong demarcation was not on the agenda of an African National Congress delegation visiting Carletonville, a media report said on Saturday. The eight-member team from the party’s national executive committee met other ANC members and community members behind closed doors in the troubled North West area.
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/ 8 February 2008
Some of the 17 fires that were raging through the Western Cape on Thursday were under control in the evening, said Cape Town chief fire officer Ian Schnetler. ”Firefighters are still battling the blaze at Naval Base as the winds are making the situation worse,” he said.