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The Democratic Alliance (DA) will strongly oppose the decision, taken by Sediane Montsitsi, Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, to schedule a closed meeting for General Carlo Gagiano, Chief of the South African Air Force, to brief the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on the state of the South African Air Force.

This morning Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, effectively prevented General Gagiano from providing a briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.

The Minister was evidently terrified that if General Gagiano was asked a straight question about the state of the Air Force, he may just have provided a straight answer.

And the Minister was probably even more terrified that if General Gagiano was asked a straight question about the use of shadow planes by President Jacob Zuma, he may well have provided a straight answer.

The Constitution is clear.

The public and the media may not be excluded from a sitting of a committee “unless it is reasonable and justifiable to do so in an open and democratic society”.

However, the Minister provided no compelling reasons – in fact she provided no reasons at all – as to why it is necessary to close the meeting of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.

The Minister simply stated, in a letter dated 02 March 2012, that she required “the necessary assurances of information security” before authorising the briefing by the South African Air Force.

On the basis of the letter Sediane Montsitsi, Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, decided, with the support of ruling party members, to schedule a closed meeting.

The committee effectively decided to close a meeting without the Minister providing compelling reasons as to why the meeting should be closed.

Moreover, the committee did not deliberate and consider whether it was reasonable and justifiable for the meeting to be closed.

The fact is that the decision to close the meeting was simply rammed through by the ruling party.

The decision, in my view, contravenes the rules of Parliament dealing with the admission of the public.

I will therefore take up this matter with Mr Cedric Frolik, House Chairperson of Committees, Oversight and ICT, in order to reverse the decision taken by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.

We cannot sit back and allow the Minister, together with her political allies in Parliament, to cover up the truth about the state of the South African Air Force and about the use of so-called shadow planes by President Jacob Zuma.