SANDF chief denies slain soldiers were ill-equipped
General Rudzani Maphwanya, the chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), has slammed critics who claim the SANDF is ill-equipped while on a mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Maphwanya spoke at the memorial service held at the Air Force Banse Swartkop in Centurion on Thursday evening for the 14 fallen soldiers.
Earlier this month, Maphwanya appeared before parliament where Members of Parliament (MPs) accused him of running an under-resourced and incapacitated operation in the DRC.
The General also slammed retired SANDF generals who are criticising the defence force in the media, saying this is not the time to point fingers.
"As South Africans, we sometimes behave as if we enjoy inflicting pain unto ourselves. A nation in grief of their fallen heroes should not be throwing accusations and counteraccusations on the merits and demerits of the status of our deployment."
"One tends to go on and ask as to in whose interest is it that we should be entangled in this tug-of-war, it the right time to be opening a debate on the defence funding?”
Maphwanya said the SANDF has on several occasions acknowledged the challenges of insufficient funding.
"We are continuously telling all South Africans that there is a need to revise our current budget allocation in favor of building our capacity for defence.
"The drastic injection is required to build capacity in the National Defence Force. But these are interactions that we make with those who are supposed to be listening to us.
"And indeed, we have stated that this drastic injection is urgent," he added.
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