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The Democratic Alliance (DA) is fighting for answers as R1 billion plowed into 1 Military Hospital has vanished, and there is corruption going unchecked.

In the DA’s fight for answers we welcome the decision by Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence to bring forward the crucial briefing by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) on the shocking corruption surrounding the RAMP project at 1 Military Hospital.

Pressure from the DA has led to the meeting now scheduled for 16 May.

This is a breakthrough in the fight for accountability. It is high time that this matter, which has festered for years in the shadows of the Department of Defence, is finally dragged into the light of Parliament.

After more than R1 billion poured into so-called “refurbishments” over 25 years, 1 Military Hospital remains a gutted shell.

The Hospital’s emergency theatres, radiology units and pharmacy are still incomplete. It is a disgraceful symbol of waste and criminal neglect.

The forensic report already implicated senior Defence officials in corruption, yet no one has been held accountable. No disciplinary action. No arrests. No justice.

At the DA’s insistence, this critical matter is now the second item on the term's agenda so that Parliament can get to the bottom of this billion Rand scandal.

South Africans also deserve answers on why the SIU and DPCI investigations have taken so long to yield consequences.

There is an alarming trend in the Department of Defence for wasting and squandering eye-watering amounts of tax-payer money without accountability - just like the multibillion-rand Operation Thusano scandal which was a Cuban deal that saw irregular Covid-19 medicine purchases and unlawful contracts.

Those responsible for turning 1 Military Hospital from a life-saving hospital into a monument to corruption must finally face the law.

Issued by Nicholas Gotsell MP - DA NCOP Member on Security & Justice