Meyer cautions on soldier deployment

SPECIFIC ABOUT INTERNAL PLACEMENT ‘Authority can only come from president and it must be tabled in parliament.’

matter altogether.

“The constitution is very specific in terms of what it says about the deployment inside the country. It has to be for a specific reason, which has to be given to parliament.

“The authority can only come from the president and it has to be tabled in parliament by means of a minute and, therefore, one has to be very cautious in the deployment of soldiers,” he said.

When asked what his thoughts were on why the army was deployed to parliament this week, Meyer said he did not have all the security information, but stressed that one has to be very cautious when arriving at such a decision, adding that President Jacob Zuma will have to table in parliament the reasons why before the matter can be open to public scrutiny.

Meanwhile, the move was this week condemned mainly by opposition parties, who described it as the militarisation of parliament, while authorities said the army was only around parliament in case the police required assistance.

From about 3pm, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters staged a peaceful protest near parliament under the watchful eye of law enforcers. They chanted and danced to liberation songs.

Hours before the Sona, EFF leaders came through parliament, walking down the red carpet with party deputy president Floyd Shivhambu saying they were only there to conduct a survey. –

One has to be very cautious when it comes to the deployment of soldiers inside the country. Roelf Meyer Former chairperson of the defence review committee