DoD on consequence management and update on alleged non-payment of Umzimvubu Regiment; with Deputy Minister

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed all to the meeting. Apologies were acknowledged from the Department of Defence and Military Veterans and certain Members of the Portfolio Committee.

Following the apologies, Mr S Marais (DA) asked what it meant that the focus of the meeting was on consequence management, therefore, requiring the Chief of the SANDF to be present. He further noted that the Accounting Officer of the SANDF was also not in the meeting. He indicated that this rendered the meeting fruitless as the two senior members should avail themselves to the Committee.

Dr M Basopu (ANC) asked if the Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who was present in the meeting, could report to the Portfolio Committee as the two senior members of the SANDF were not in the meeting.

The Chairperson concurred with Dr Basopu and asked if the matters on the agenda could be responded to by the Acting CFO. He however acknowledged that the Acting CFO may have limitations in responding to matters concerning consequence management, hence the presence of the Chief of the SANDF and the Accounting Officer was crucial.

The Chairperson asked further about the processes followed in appointing the Acting CFO, and if there was a prospect of having a permanent CFO.

Dr Basopu added that there should be a letter indicating that the delegation present in the meeting would take responsibility and fully account to the Committee.

Mr T Mmutle (ANC) suggested that the Committee use the other items on the agenda to allow discussion with the Chief of the SANDF who would join later. He added that it appeared that those who had been given the accounting responsibility did not want to take full responsibility. There should be engagement with the Department that this is incorrect.

Mr Marais raised concern that those who were meant to account to the Committee were not in the meeting. He indicated that from the delegation present in the meeting, it was not clear who had the authority to respond and account fully to the Committee. He insisted that because of this, the meeting would therefore be fruitless.

Mr Marais concurred with Mr Mmutle and said that this was not the first time those who were accountable had failed to present themselves before the Portfolio Committee. He said this was unacceptable and requested the postponement of the meeting and that legal advice from Parliament had to be sought.

Dr Gamede, who was leading the delegation from the Department, responded that the Chief of the SANDF would join the meeting later.

Dr Gamede added further that the Acting CFO was doing what was called 'substantive acting', which meant that he had the authority to perform all the functions of the CFO. However whether the Acting CFO would be able to answer the questions would be difficult as such issues were about consequence management and the Acting CFO might be limited in that regard.

Dr Gamede therefore asked the Committee for guidance as to whether a presentation could be made and questions asked when the Chief of the SANDF arrived at the meeting.

Dr Gamede said that the deadline for an appointment of an Acting CFO was 31 January 2023. She then indicated that the Department would proceed to provide feedback on the alleged non-payment of the 815 members of the Umzimvubu Regiment and return to the other items on the agenda later.

Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla supported that proposal to continue with the feedback report on the Umzimvubu Regiment and return to the other agenda items later. He also said that the views raised by the Portfolio Committee were in order and were well noted.

Feedback by the DOD on the alleged non-payment of the 815 members of the Umzimvubu Regiment

Major General RE Mercuur briefed the Portfolio Committee on the progress of the Board of Inquiry regarding the Umzimvubu Regiment and the work done on the name list that was provided to the Department of Defence and Military Veterans by the Portfolio Committee.

Following the July 2021 unrest, the South African (SA) Army was deployed in the Provinces of Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) and Gauteng to stabilise the situation. Presidential Minutes and Operational Directives were issued for the SA Army to deploy in the affected areas.

Major General Mercuur pointed out that the consolidated statistics on Umzimvubu as of 22 September 2022 showed that there were 616 non-enlisted members due to various reasons such as faulty identity numbers, illicit activity, incomplete enlistment forms, unaccounted files and more.

Regarding the progress of the Board of Inquiry, Major General Mercuur said that deriving from the list provided to the Department by the Committee on 14 September 2022, additional information had to be sourced which meant that some witnesses had to be called back. However, preliminary findings and recommendations were to be presented to the Committee.

Major General Mercuur then presented the seven preliminary findings. She said that concerning the media statements from the Chief of the SA Army Corporate Communication dated 14 July 2021 indicating that all Reserve members had to report for duty at first light on 15 July 2021 at their respective units due to the uncontrolled events in KZN and Gauteng Provinces. Therefore, based on the media statement, the SA Army Headquarters wrote Instruction Number 53/2021 dated 26 July 2021 and the SA Army Infantry Formation wrote Instruction Number 323/2021 dated 5 August 2021 for the activation of Reserve call-ups to be utilised for Operation PROSPER. Although the Instructions were not carried out effectively, calling up Reserves was done and the enlistment that took place was not done according to the normal procedure.

She highlighted that there was no authority granted by the SA Army Infantry Formation for the utilisation of some members of the Umzimvubu Regiment who were identified to be the leading group of the Unit. State resources were utilised in the day-to-day management of keeping members who reported for enlistment at the Umzimvubu Regiment.

Major General Mercuur stated further that on the second round, when the Board of Inquiry members returned to the Umzimvubu Regiment, the existing leader group of the Umzimvubu Regiments surfaced and indicated that they were side-lined during the enlistment process.

The leader group of the enlistees that was appointed took over all key positions and functions of the Unit. Enlistees were given the authority to sign for funds as they were given the specimen signature. The SA Army Headquarters contingent was also deployed to the Unit to intervene in the existing situation.

Major General Mercuur said that the Unit Expenditure Coordinating Committee meetings were not taking place and procurement was not conducted according to processes. Some of the enlistees that went to the Umzimvubu Regiment in July 2021 were paid salaries toward the end of the year, and after their enlistment process was completed, some were not paid.

The state incurred various costs during the process including enlistees' bus tickets movement to and from Mthatha (R233 000), military transport costs taking members home (R81 342), rations costing from the Commercialised Mess (R4.2 million), administration and logistics (R54 498), salary projected by the Umzimvubu Regiment (R23.9 million), and an envisaged total cost of R28.5 million.

Major General Mercuur added that 400 mattresses were procured for the Umzimvubu Regiment using Commercialised mess funds to the amount of R199 870 for enlistees.

In her recommendation, she mentioned that proper procedures and processes should be adhered to by the Reserve Force unit before utilising people in their units, as the headquarters had to grant authority for the payments. Further, it recommended that enlistees are paid the stipend of the period other than the daily rate salary as these members did not form part of the Reserves and were not utilised during Operation PROSPER.

It was further recommended that formations conduct close monitoring of the administration concerning the expenditure of the Reserve unit. Also, the stipulated call-up procedures should be followed in all Reserve Force units.

Major General Mercuur recommended that disciplinary action be taken against the members who approved the use of resources to buy bus tickets to and from Mthatha, military transport costs taking members home, ration costs, and administration and logistic needs. This included the recovery of the amount used for the procurement of the 400 mattresses for the Umzimvubu Regiment using Commercialised Mess funds for the enlisted members and a Counter Intelligence investigation should be instituted to find out what the actual intention surrounding the situation that prevailed at Umzimvubu Regiment was.

She added that two witnesses are to be interviewed and the Board of Inquiry is to be completed by the end of November 2022 and must have been handed over to the Convening Authority for a final decision.

The Chairperson welcomed the detailed presentation by Major General Mercuur.

Discussion

Mr Marais welcomed the presentation. He highlighted that it would be important to look at the final Board of Inquiry and he felt like there were several things partially or incompletely mentioned in the presentation. He added that he was not convinced that one member had hijacked the whole process as it seemed like other people in higher authority were involved. However, he said that he did not want to jump to a conclusion until the final Board of Inquiry.

Mr Mmutle said that he appreciated the report and applauded the action taken by the Department against those who had transgressed. Concerning the recommendations that had been tabled, he supported the recommendation made in the report that some of the state resources should be recovered.

He asked what the Department's view in terms of the current setup on the Commercialised mess was, as there were no contracts to facilitate the process.

The Chairperson said that he welcomed the presentation as a work in progress. He mentioned that despite what arose during the irregularities, the whole process was already contaminated as the correct protocols were not followed from the beginning.

He asked about the various categories of the matters that made some of the cases not possible to enlist, for example - incorrect identity information. He therefore asked if, assuming that the misalignments were corrected, would that increase the number of people who had been accepted as properly enlisted.

Response

Major General Mercuur concurred with Mr Marais that it was best to wait for the final report of the Board of Inquiry with all concerns raised noted. She highlighted that the Board of Inquiry is an administrative process that the Department was adhering to therefore, if any witnesses were being questioned, the Department had documentation that could provide further information to the President of the Board of Inquiry and the witness could give that documentation. But what the Department currently had was the documentation that was used to conclude the Board of Inquiry to complete the necessary findings and recommendations.

On the recovery of state resources, specifically on rations costing from the commercialised mess, Major General Mercuur indicated that there were processes and procedures in place. However, there were instances where members did not execute higher-level instructions and this was being looked at.

She said that the concern about the administrative processes included the evidence received from the witnesses, the Units and the Portfolio Committee, with the enlisted amount. She added that in cases of faulty identity numbers, the member's responsibility remained to correct that at the Department of Home Affairs. And in cases where the member had a criminal record, they could not be enlisted.

During the meeting, Mr Malcolm from the Umzimvubu Regiment requested authority from the Chairperson to speak in the meeting.

However, the Deputy Minister said that Mr Malcolm had introduced himself to be a member of the SANDF, possibly in the Reserves and the structures within the environment of the Umzimvubu Regiment. He added this was a meeting of a Committee of Parliament and asked if it was procedural for a member from the SANDF or any member of the public to be allowed to make a direct submission to the Portfolio Committee. He pointed out that although members of the public were generally allowed to be in attendance, they did not have the right to speak but to observe.

Major General Mercuur indicated that this member is a registered witness of the Board of Inquiry, and he should contact the President of the Board of Inquiry as he was sworn in under oath and there were procedures that he should follow.

Mr M Shelembe (DA) raised concern and asked if the member was invited to the meeting and who invited them. He said he could not be referred to the President of the Board of Inquiry without fully understanding the reasons for attending the meeting of the Portfolio Committee including his request for an audience. He added that there should be control on who can make comments during the meetings of the Portfolio Committee as the meetings were not open to the participation of the public.

The Chairperson responded to Mr Shelembe that the member did not require an invitation to attend the meeting or the meeting of any Portfolio Committee. He indicated that given that the member is a witness, he should therefore be in contact with the President of the Board of Inquiry as suggested by Major General Mercuur. He then urged members of the public who had information that could assist in the investigation that they should contact the relevant investigating authority and not the Portfolio Committee.  

Mr Marais pointed out that the Committee had the autonomy and authority to decide how it conducted its matters in the meetings and anyone could be invited to the meeting. The Minister or Deputy Minister could not prescribe who could participate in the meeting.  

Dr Gumede indicated that she had received communication that the Chief of the SANDF would be unable to attend the meeting with the Portfolio Committee. The Chairperson requested that the briefing of the Chief of the SANDF and the Accounting Officer remain pending.

The Chairperson suggested that the Department consider the documents produced by the Research Unit of the Portfolio Committee. The Chairperson took the Department through the tracking document on consequence management and fruitless expenditure, consequence management in the Department of Defence and Military Veterans: Key noticeable, trends…

In closing, the Deputy Minister accepted the postponement of the meeting. He said that in the next meeting, it would be important to ensure that all those who were supposed to brief the Portfolio Committee commit to appearing in the next meeting.

Portfolio Committee on Defence Oversight Programme 2022

The Secretary of the Portfolio Committee presented the proposed oversight visits to Bloemfontein from the 22 to 25 November 2022 to the Committee.

Mr Marais requested that De Brug Demobilisation Center be added to the oversight.

The Chairperson accepted this with no objections from the Portfolio Committee.

The programme was adopted by the Committee.

Consideration and adoption of outstanding minutes

The Chairperson presented the outstanding minutes of 28 September 2022, 12 October 2022, 19 October 2022 and 26 October 2022. All minutes were adopted without amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.