The Al Jama-ah party says there is a need to review the control of operations in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to prevent fatalities.
The party says it’s worried about the recent tragedies in which soldiers were killed in different locations.
Six soldiers died at the Lohatla combat training centre outside Posmasburg in the Northern Cape on Friday.
This after a fire at a nearby mine rapidly spread to the centre.
It’s the third incident in which soldiers have died.
Four others died last month when two army trucks overturned outside Upington.
Last month, three submariners also died after being swept away at sea at Kommetjie in the Western Cape.
Al Jama-ah Western Cape leader, Ganief Hendricks says, “Al Jama-ah is alarmed, this is now becoming a trend. We cannot lose the best of our defence force personnel at sea, on the road and now in a fire. There needs to be a review of operations control to prevent these untimely deaths from continuing. Al Jama-ah would like to send deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives.”
The SANDF Chief Director of Force Preparation, Major-General Patrick Dube, says this is not the first fire at the centre.
He says the three soldiers who sustained severe injuries are in a stable condition in hospital.
“This is not the first fire that we are having in this training area. The very last one came from outside in the Western part along one of the neighbouring mines. We do have the fire fighters within the range, we also have the fire fighting equipment. But the magnitude of this fire, I must really say is very big and very mass. The speed of fire is estimated to have been 70 kilometres per hour.”
Meanwhile, Northern Cape Premier, Zamani Saul, says the province is ready to give the SANDF psycho-social support when families start the daunting task of identifying the bodies of their loved ones today.
