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A member of the SANDF.
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) says it is investigating the presence of its members at a gender-based violence (GBV) community march in Matatiele, Eastern Cape.
The incident has led to public confusion, with questions raised about whether the soldiers were deployed to monitor the protest.
The SANDF has since clarified that the soldiers were not assigned to monitor the demonstration but were in the area as part of a border safeguarding operation.
PODCAST| SANDF comments about reports that its soldiers were deployed at a march against GBV:
Head of Communication at the Department of Defence, Siphiwe Dlamini, says the matter is being taken seriously.
“We’ve requested our Officer Commanding of those troops and everybody in the Eastern Cape and the General Officer Commanding who is responsible for all our deployments including external and internal to look into the matter quite seriously because we view it in a very serious light. To give us the report as soon as possible as to what transpired for our members to end up finding themselves in that area. And we want that to be clearly put to the Chief of the Defence Force which will then be reported to the minister and decisions will be made.”
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