Jerome Maake, Chairperson of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, has failed to reply to three separate requests for a special hearing on the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployment in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
  
My first request for a special hearing, was submitted more than four months ago, on 11 April 2013, and warned that: “The SANDF will be taking part in a high-risk mission where there is, not only a serious risk of casualties, but also a serious risk of being sucked into a regional war, fighting rebel groups supported by regional powers, such as Rwanda.”
 
However, my requests for a special hearing seem to have fallen on deaf ears in Parliament.

I have made three separate requests for a special hearing on 11 April 2013, 31 May 2013 and 28 August 2013 for a special hearing on the SANDF deployment in the DRC. However, I have never received a formal reply and no special hearing has been scheduled. Shockingly, Jerome Maake, was quoted, in a newspaper report, claiming that a special hearing on the SANDF deployment to the DRC “might be a waste of time”.

It is imperative that General Solly Shoke, Chief of the SANDF, provide a detailed briefing to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on the SANDF deployment in the DRC. Parliament must be absolutely sure that the SANDF are properly trained, equipped and supported for the mission in the DRC. We cannot afford another military disaster in the DRC.

 
If Jerome Maake does not respond to me by close of business on Tuesday 03 September 2013, I will escalate the matter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Max Sisulu. Parliament must not be allowed to fail the SANDF soldiers who have been deployed to the DRC.