SANDF brutality: Defence Minister’s remarks on ‘sexual abuse’ spark fury

Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has been chastised by her political opponents, for comments she made during an NCOP session of Parliament on Tuesday. The Defence Minister was addressing questions about acts of brutality committed by SANDF, and gave a rather tone-deaf response on the process.

DA Member of the Select Committee on Security and Justice, Isaac Sileku, asked Mapisa-Nqakula if the brutality seen on the streets of South Africa when lockdown was introduced also occured overseas. At least a dozen citizens have been killed in confrontations with army-supported law enforcement since April.

What Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said about SANDF brutality and sexual abuse

The Collins Khosa case, for example, scarred the nation. But in a far from convincing response, the Cabinet member went off-tangent to downplay reports of sexual abuse in the ranks of SANDF.

“Mapisa-Nqakula says she doesn’t regard sexual abuse perpetrated by SANDF soldiers as brutality. I had asked the Defence Minister to elaborate on whether reported cases of brutality during the national lockdown were isolated, or were other brutality incidents during peacekeeping not being reported or investigated.”

“In her response, Mapisa-Nqakula stated that her Department hardly ever receives reports of brutality, but only a few cases of sexual exploitation and abuse outside the borders of South Africa, which she would not categorise as brutality. The Minister’s comments in this regard are alarming and disappointing.”

Isaac Sileku

Defence Minister ‘downplays’ sexual abuse cases

The DA has urged the minister to retract her statements and insisted that Mapisa-Nqakula should make it categorically clear that she – and her department – considers sexual abuse by SANDF soldiers as brutality.

There have been a total of 33 brutality cases registered against SANDF during the lockdown. Yet the minister’s flippant response to sexual abuse cases fails to acknowledge the gravity of such accusations. Certainly, in a climate where decisive action is needed to stamp-out gender-based violence, Mapisa-Nqakula has strayed wildly off-course from the message government is trying to project.