Defence committee slams Steenhuisen for leaking SANDF info
Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence says it will take John Steenhuisen to task for leaking state information to the public before the committee had given the green light.
On Tuesday the interim leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) took to social media and shared a letter by President Cyril Ramapahosa to the committee’s chairperson before it had interrogated the matter.
Chairperson Cyril Xaba says Steenhuisen’s actions were irresponsible.
“It’s highly irregular that the matter would just go viral even before the matter serves before the portfolio committee for consideration and the letter was released to cause hysteria in the public.
“We find it problematic that a matter like this would be released like this. It was uncalled for.”
Wow... pic.twitter.com/IiXg2Q5Hri
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) April 21, 2020
Xaba says the matter has been reported to the Speaker of the National Assembly Thandi Modise.
“It was yesterday that I received it and then I distributed to members of the committee and it was hardly a minute that I had done so, the whole thing just went viral and that is highly irresponsible.”
The letter revealed plans to deploy an additional 73 000 SANDF troops to assist in the fight against Covid-19.
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Wow... pic.twitter.com/IiXg2Q5Hri
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) April 21, 2020