Parliament to investigate whether Zuma failed to tell it about soldiers at Sona
More than 400 SANDF members were deployed at this year’s state of the nation address; Parliament isn’t sure it was properly informed of this
Parliament has launched an investigation into whether President Jacob Zuma failed to inform it of his decision to deploy soldiers in the parliamentary precinct at last year’s state of the nation address (Sona). National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete announced the investigation on Thursday. It will be conducted by the powers and privileges committee. Mbete’s decision to institute the probe stems from a complaint by DA chief whip John Steenhuisen during a question and answer session last month with ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa. At this year’s Sona‚ more than 400 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members were deployed by Zuma to Parliament to beef up security. This raised the ire of opposition parties which described the deployment as unconstitutional and a militarisation of Parliament. However‚ government defended the deployment‚ saying it was not the first time that soldiers had been part of the Sona security arrangements. It later emerged that a letter announcing ...
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