Investigations into the incident at Lohatlha in which nine soldiers were killed have revealed that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure *1, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Friday.

The nine soldiers died when a 35mm Oerlikon GDF MK-5 gun malfunctioned at the Lohatlha training centre in the Northern Cape on October 12 last year.

Fifteen other soldiers were injured in the incident.

Speaking to reporters in Pretoria, Lekota said a board of enquiry, which was established two days later and headed by retired Major-General Johan Jooste, found that a mechanical failure occurred on gun 124, when the interface between the hand motor actuator selector level and the traverse gearbox broke.

The technical committee headed by independent engineers and scientists found that a pin failure had occurred on a 35mm MK-35 gun in another country and that the malfunction had not been reported to South Africa.

It was not known whether this incident had also resulted in deaths.

"The manufacturer did not report the failure to the Republic of South Africa," said Lekota.

The manufacturer, who could not be named, had also not provided information on correcting pin failure nor the maintenance required.

The board found that of the 48 such guns in the SA Army which were commissioned in 1991 *2, ten were found to have sheared pins.

Pending the finalisation of the enquiry the guns had been decommissioned. The board had recommended that the guns undergo inspection and maintenance before being used for training. Training would take place without live ammunition.

The board recommended that the weapons be redesigned to ensure safer handling and that there should be an operation test and evaluation to requalify the guns' acceptance by the army.

Lekota said the department had not yet decided on what action to take against the manufacturer, if any.

"As of now we've not yet decided on how to act. I cannot speculate. I still have to brief cabinet as to what steps can be taken," said Lekota.

He said he could also not speculate on whether the families of the five men and four women killed would take action against the manufacturer.

"I would not like to speculate on any issue," Lekota said, adding that did not know whether the company had accepted responsibility for the incident.

The minister said the country regarded members of the SA National Defence Force as special citizens, and that "soldiering was a dangerous vocation".

With acknowledgements to Neo Semono and Sapa.