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The Democratic Alliance (DA) believes that the appointment of Lieutenant-General Themba Matanzima, Chief of Joint Operations in the South African National Defence Force, as the Acting Secretary of Defence, will undermine the effective civilian control of the military in South Africa.

Deputy-Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thabang Makwetla announced this morning at a portfolio committee meeting that Lieutenant-General Themba Matanzima had been appointed as the Acting Secretary of Defence.

The Secretary of Defence manages the civilian secretariat, is the principle adviser to the minister on defence policy and is the accounting officer for the Department.

This appointment came after Tsepe Motumi, the previous incumbent, who folded in front of the public accounts committee, was promoted sideways to take over as the head of the new Department of Military Veterans.

Lieutenant-General Matanzima is a military officer with an exemplary record and is highly regarded both inside and outside military circles. However, we come from a history where the department of defence in the apartheid era was militarised and controlled by the military. That is why, in order to maintain effective civilian control of the military, a civilian should be appointed as secretary of defence so that defence policy is formulated by civilians and civilians remain the accounting officer and retain the "power of the purse".

The fact is that a general in a jacket and tie is still a general, and for that reason Lieutenant-General Themba Matanzima should never have been appointed as Acting Secretary of Defence and should not be appointed as the permanent Secretary of Defence.

The appointment of Lieutenant-General Matanzima is therefore wrong in principle.

The DA therefore calls on Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, to:

not appoint Lieutenant-General Themba Matanzima as the permanent Secretary of Defence; and
begin the search for a civilian who is fit for purpose and could be appointed as the permanent Secretary of Defence.

We cannot have a situation where we go back to the age of the securocrats and the military ‘colonise' the civilian secretariat thereby undermining the effective civilian control of the military and our constitutional democracy in South Africa.