Hon Speaker, thank you. Mr President, you are the Commander in Chief of the SA National Defence Force. Now, because of the poor decisions taken by you, the Defence Force was deployed in the Central African Republic, CAR. Also, because of poor decisions taken by you, our soldiers were left dangling without the necessary equipment in a deadly firefight in the CAR. Ultimately, because of poor decisions taken by you, 15 of our soldiers died as a result of the deployment in the CAR. [Interjections.]
What happened in the CAR was an avoidable disaster and should never be allowed to happen again. Will the President therefore give us the assurance that the Defence Force will be properly equipped, properly trained and properly funded in the event that it is deployed as part of the new rapid reaction force under the auspices of the AU so that we can avoid a repeat of the CAR disaster?