NATIONAL NEWS - The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for the immediate release of the Moorhouse Report, which the party claims the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) continues to conceal from Parliament and the public.
This follows the arrest of 12 SANDF members in connection with the 2023 assassination of Hawks investigator, Lieutenant Colonel Frans Mathipa. Ten of the members were arrested today, 23 June.
Mathipa was shot and killed in his vehicle on the N1 near the Hammanskraal Toll Plaza in August 2023.
The DA says the arrests have intensified pressure for transparency, particularly regarding the report’s alleged findings on illegal SANDF activities.
The Moorhouse Board of Inquiry was reportedly established after whistleblower Thulane Ndawo, a former Military Police officer, exposed illegal detentions, torture, and unauthorised operations in 2021.
The DA says the report is believed to contain explosive details of rogue SANDF activity, including the 2019 theft of military rifles, the use of front companies, and involvement in politically motivated killings.
In November 2023, the DA submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to obtain the report, but the party's request remains unanswered.
Civil society organisation Open Secrets has escalated the matter to the United Nations, underscoring the seriousness of the allegations.
The DA says Lt Col Mathipa, had been investigating a 2022 kidnapping linked to military vehicles and the secret offloading of cargo from the Russian vessel Lady R at the Simon’s Town naval base.
He had just obtained a court order compelling the SANDF to release critical documents when he was killed.
The DA says these developments point to the existence of a rogue network within the SANDF operating outside of lawful command structures, involved in kidnappings, arms smuggling, and assassinations.
The DA demands the following:
• The immediate, unredacted release of the Moorhouse Report;
• A list of implicated individuals and steps toward prosecution;
• Disclosure of SANDF-linked front companies; and
• A plan to dismantle rogue operations within the military.
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