SANDF 'to plug leaks'

A witch-hunt driven by military intelligence, bent on identifying defence force personnel who talked to the media without authorisation, could result in the imprisonment of soldiers who fought in the battle for the Central African Republic - and journalists are also likely to be targeted.

The Times has established that SANDF chief Lieutenant-General Solly Shoke ordered two weeks ago that a team be established to identify soldiers and military officials who have fed information to the media.

Journalists who covered the CAR fiasco might have their cellphone and e-mail records scrutinised.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula briefs parliament today on the CAR deployment, during which 13 SANDF soldiers were killed in a rebel attack .

Jerome Maake, chairman of parliament's j oint s tanding c ommittee on d efence , last week refused to allow a debate on the SANDF deployment to the Democratic Republic of Congo to fight rebel s.

Shoke's root-them-out order became known during an army command council meeting held in Pretoria and was made public by the SA National Defence Union.

Shoke wants defence intelligence officers to discover which soldiers spoke to journalists about last month's battle for CAR's capital, Bangui.

Thirteen SANDF paratroops were killed when Seleka rebels attacked their position.

They had ostensibly been deployed to protect SANDF trainers who had been in CAR since 2007 to help develop former president François Bozizé's military.

At the time of the battle, numerous South African media houses reported on a large build-up of South African forces in Uganda, including the deployment of fighter aircraft and attack helicopters to rescue the troops stranded in CAR.

South African military command said that the soldiers were killed defending military assets - but troops on the ground, speaking through the SA National Defence Union, claimed that many of their comrades were killed defending South African business interests.

Claims such as these are believed to have sparked the witch-hunt.

SANDF spokesman Brigadier-General Xolani Mabanga refused to respond to questions.

"We are dealing with a union trying to gain popularity. This is another attempt to discredit the SANDF by inciting members to rise up against the organisation. We will comment in due course."

The union's general secretary, Pikkie Greeff, said the military was abusing its power.

"If they have nothing to hide, why not comment? It smacks of apartheid-style tactics.

"Intelligence operatives, tasked to identify troops who spoke to reporters, will use various methods, including accessing cellphones and e-mails. Our understanding is that this will involve hacking journalists' records.

"This is illegal and an abuse of power. None of the media reports endanger military operations or troops - that was done solely by the military in its failure to provide troops on the ground with proper intelligence."

Greeff said that, in terms of the Defence Act, anyone guilty of leaking information deemed to have jeopardised a mission would face a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

"The military is going to come down hard to identify the sources - the very men and women who put their lives on the line for what appears more and more to be a bogus mission."

Said DA MP David Maynier: "This could be the beginning of a cover-up in respect of the CAR deployments."

Defence analyst Helmoed Heitman said: "The defence force should be establishing why troops were failed in terms of intelligence. What secrets were leaked? The deployments were not secret - the president announced them."