Defence Minister – praag.org

Minister wants to arrest white ‘mercenaries’ fighting Boko Haram

The South Africans going to help the Nigerian army against terror group Boko Haram should be arrested on their return, Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said in Beeld on Thursday.

She labelled them “mercenaries” in comments made to reporters on the eve of the African Union’s summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Beeld has reported that a multinational team of over 100 private military experts was on its way to Nigeria to help against Boko Haram.

Former soldiers of the SA Defence Force [the predecessor of the SA National Defence Force] formed the core.

“There are consequences when somebody leaves the country and provides any form of military assistance that is not part of the government’s deployment,” she said.

The police and prosecuting authority should make examples of the group by charging them under the regulation on Foreign Military Assistance Act.

Their team leader said they were not mercenaries, but would provide training in terms of a contract with the Nigerian government.

Mapisa-Nqakula said no SA National Defence Force member was deployed to Nigeria, and South Africa had not received an official request for assistance or weapons.

On Tuesday Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Co-operation, expressed her disappointment at the South Africans’ involvement.

SA needs to upgrade military equipment says minister

African Aerospace and Defence show drew exhibitors from Russia, China, Germany, the UK, India and the US to Pretoria this week.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula opened the Pretoria event on Wednesday declaring that South Africa needed to upgrade aging and old military equipment.

“There will be re-prioritisation, but we are in a hurry… there is an urgency… the military is desperate to address the challenges it faces, especially in terms of heavy transport aircraft,” Mapisa-Nqakula said.

The exhibition ends today.

The government recently concluded a 20-year defence review, which is currently being considered by parliament’s defence portfolio committee.

Getting away with rape

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has revealed that sexual violence is rife in her department, admitting in parliament that there had been 69 complaints of rape and sexual harassment in the past three years alone.

However, not a single defence department employee accused of rape has been convicted .

Mapisa-Nqakula was responding to a question from an opposition memeber who wanted to know how many cases of sexual assault, rape and child pornography relating to the department had been reported between 2009 and 2013.

Mapisa-Nqakula said that 15 rapes and 54 sexual assaults were reported to her department during that time , adding that “appropriate policies” and system s were in place to prevent sex crimes.

Source: timeslive.co.za

Zim genocidaire dies

Zimbabwean politician Enos Nkala, who co-founded Robert Mugabe’s ZANU party and was Defence Minister during a massacre of ethnic Ndebele that killed 20 000 people, has reportedly died.

“Nkala died at the Avenues Clinic, Harare, this morning after his admission at the hospital on August 7,” the News Day newspaper reported.

He was 81 years old. The cause of death is still unclear.

Nkala co-founded the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) party in 1963 to fight against British colonial rule.

ZANU came to power after independence in 1980 and later joined the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) to form ZANU-PF, which remains in power.

Nkala served various posts in Mugabe governments, including as Finance Minister.

As Defence Minister he oversaw a state-ordered crackdown by North Korea-trained forces on dissidents in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces between 1984 and 1987.

Around 20 000 people, including women and children, were killed during the massacre named “Gukurahundi”, which means “the wind that sweeps away the chaff before the spring rains” in the local Shona language.

Nkala sought to exonerate himself, saying Mugabe directed the deployment of the troops.

In the late 1990s Mugabe described the killings as “a moment of madness”, but stopped short of apologising for them.

Nkala left government following a corruption scandal in which cabinet ministers and officials bought cars for resale using special privileges.

He later became a staunch critic of Mugabe’s rule, but last year patched up his relationship with the 89-year-old ruler.

Mugabe is set to be inaugurated for a new five-year term on Thursday after winning a disputed election last month to extend his more than three-decade rule. – SABC