Parliament – South African Defence Minister Nosiviwi Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday told a joint sitting of Parliament she has initiated an investigation into complaints from opposition benches about the use of armed soldiers in the parliamentary precinct during President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address (SONA).
"I've taken the allegations seriously and consequently started an investigation and when concluded will report to the presiding officers," Mapisa-Nqakula said while speaking in the National Assembly in the debate on the SONA.
Last week, the Democratic Alliance instructed its lawyers to launch legal action over the deployment of armed soldiers during the Sona. The party is seeking a declaratory order from the courts that the use of armed soldiers last week was illegal.
Mapisa-Nqakula said the judicial process could guide the deployment of soldiers at "key national events". She moved to assure MPs they were not being targeted by the army.
"You are not regarded as a security threat requiring the deployment of the defence force," the minister said, while also lamenting the fact that the political landscape had changed.
"It is unfortunate that in past three years we all had to perform our roles under a charged political atmosphere..."