12 members of the National Defence Force (SANDF) have been charged, on Friday, with three counts, including housebreaking, theft and loss of firearms, following a break-in at a military basis in Pretoria.
They appeared in the Swartkop Military court in Pretoria in connection with the theft of R4 automatic rifles at the SANDF’s army base in Lyttelton.
The incidents took place on Monday.
The 12 have been denied bail. Their next court appearance will be on the 3rd of January.
SANDF Spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini says “The 12 members that appeared before the court have been charged with three counts: housebreaking, theft and the loss of firearms. And the debate we are busy with now is whether they should be kept in custody or be given bail. The investigating officer was very clear that she would not be comfortable with bail being given to the accused until she has completed her investigation due to the complexity of the matter before the court.”
Weapons not recovered
Meanwhile, National Defence Force Union Secretary Pikkie Greeff has retracted a former statement that all the weapons have been recovered.
He now says only parts of the rifles were found at a property in Hammanskraal.
The National Defence Force denied that the weapons had been recovered. Greeff says the SANDF seems unsure of the number of weapons missing.
“It’s not necessarily weapons as such that were recovered but parts of weapons that were recovered. The SANDF is in fact not even sure how many weapons are missing. We do not know where it was found in terms of whether it’s a residence or whether it’s just a building. What we’ve been told by people who are stationed by that unit is that the military police investigating the matter had certain information after questioning some suspects and then led to a location in Hammanskraal where these parts were discovered.”
