Members of the South African National Defence Force. Picture: Gallo Images Beyond all the speculation about the withdrawal – or not – of an Iranian navy ship from a joint exercise with South African, Russian and Chinese warships, there is a more worrying question to be asked at home. President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly asked Iran to remove itself as official participant in the exercise and become an “observer”.
Yet, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) appears to have turned a blind eye – Admiral Horatio Nelson-style – to any signals from its political bosses. In a Facebook post, later removed, the SANDF said the Iranian vessel had left Simon’s Town, along with four others, to take part in the ocean exercise. Defence analyst Darren Olivier observed wryly: “One part of the SA government is telling the media and other countries that Iran has withdrawn, while the SANDF continues to act as though nothing has changed.” And therein lies the problem for a country where the armed forces have always taken their orders from the government of the day.
This could well have been a mistake in communication from either the government, or the military – that certainly wouldn’t be unheard from our rulers. But what if it was more than that? What if it was the military taking advantage of the ANC’s current weak and chaos-riddled situation to assert its own will?
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Let’s not forget that in August last year, SANDF chief General Rudzani Maphwanya went to Iran, where he made comments about solidarity with Iran and Gaza. This caused a rebuke from Ramaphosa that the visit was not sanctioned and that Maphwanya’s comments went beyond military matters.
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