Cape Town Defence Minister
Lindiwe Sisulu has
taken aim at her tormenter-in-chief
Democratic Alliance defence spokesman David
Maynier demanding he apologise for, and
withdraw, a statement that she deliberately
misled Parliament.
This is the latest salvo in the battle
between Ms Sisulu and Mr Maynier over two
interim reports of the Interim National
Defence Force Service Commission. Ms Sisulu
insists the reports did not inform the
drafting of the Defence Amendment Bill,
while Mr Maynier contends that the interim
commission produced the first draft of the
bill.
Parliament’s defence committee has battled
with Ms Sisulu over access to the bills,
arguing that any pertinent information on
service conditions in the military should
come before the committee .
Ms Sisulu has refused to provide the
committee with the reports until the Cabinet
has seen them.
Yesterday, Mr Maynier received a letter from
Ms Sisulu’s attorney, Barnabas Xulu, saying
a statement he issued on September 5 that
Ms Sisulu deliberately misled Parliament and
National Assembly speaker Max Sisulu about
the connection between the reports and the
bill intended to imply Ms Sisulu was
dishonest and lacked integrity.
Mr Xulu wrote that because Mr Maynier’s
claim was made outside of parliamentary
forums, it was not privileged. He demanded
an apology and unequivocal withdrawal of Mr
Maynier’s statement in all newspapers that
published it, within two weeks, failing
which other legal avenues would be pursued.
DA federal council chairman James Selfe said
the matter had been referred to the DA’s
attorneys. When their advice was received,
it would be taken further, but “on the face
of it, it appears that there is nothing
which we need to apologise for”.
With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley
and Business
Day.
da lady doth
protesteth greatly.
Full of sound and fury.
Meanwhile the SANDF is fast coming apart at
every seam, every stitch and every thread.
The South African defence industry is doing
likewise, especially after Dr Sisulu very
recently took R2,1 billion away from the
Special Defence Account to pay extra
salaries to the riotous, sick, lame and
lazy.
After being the continental powerhouse, both
industrial and military for the past 100
years, the ANC has reduced this country to
an international laughing stock, with a
ticket to becoming a failed state, in just
16 years.