Joint Standing Committee on Defence 'disturbed' by SANDF house searches

Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence said that they were disturbed by images of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) conducting house searches instead of preventing illegal mining.

The committee raised more questions about the deployment of the SANDF and its preparedness to help the police fight serious and violent crime.

This followed another update to Parliament by the SANDF on the letter of deployment to support the police in various provinces.

Members of the committee said they were confused by the letter of deployment and whether it included Operation Prosper from 2019.

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The defence force said earlier that the current crime intervention plan built on previous deployments, including Operation Prosper in the Western Cape, where the SANDF worked with the police.

However, committee member Chris Hattingh said what was more disturbing for him was how the SANDF was being utilised.

"We’ve heard about the presidential letter, and we’ve seen very disturbing video clips of SANDF members deployed in Gauteng doing house searches in the past week far away from any illegal mining," Hattingh said.

The defence force said its role was to support the police and there were structures in place to ensure proper communication channels.

It added that further deployments in other provinces were expected in the next two weeks.