Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

South African National Defence Force troops were sent to Burundi to keep the peace – but it seems the poor management of equipment and the theft of South African weapons that land in rebel hands is fuelling the conflict.

Sources have confirmed that millions of rands worth of vehicles, guns, ammunition and bombs, and supplies worth over R27-million have vanished from the South African army base in Burundi over the last four years.

The missing vehicles are believed to include several Casspirs; a Mazda ambulance; Isuzu bakkies; one firefighting truck; Landrover Defenders; trucks; a water tanker; a Yamaha motorcycle; forklift trucks; Toyota Condor vans; several cars; a tractor; and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

The Star has also established that among the weapons missing are 40 mortar bombs; 54 R4 rifles; four R5 rifles; a sniper rifle; two 12-gauge shotguns; eight machineguns; eight pistols; and 27 grenade launchers.

A 15 KVA generator is also understood to be missing.

While army authorities have previously blamed poor accounting practices for the losses, an investigation by The Star has found that on one occasion at least 50 missing SANDF mortar bombs – out of 80 bombs stolen using an army-owned Land-Rover – were found in a FNL Phalipe-Hutu rebel group camp in Kiriri, Burundi.

The FNL has been blamed for a series of mortar attacks on the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, in which at least 300 people are known to have died.

The Star has also learnt that a case of ammunition – part of a total 1,5-million SANDF-owned rounds that went missing in Burundi – was found in the possession of Burundian government forces in 2004.

As yet, the SANDF has failed to reveal how many millions of rands worth of weapons, vehicles and supplies it has lost to theft or mismanagement. Disturbingly, it seems the SANDF has no idea how many weapons are in its possession.

Now, following a scathing Auditor-General’s report into the Department of Defence’s “inadequate” and “deficient” accounting practices, the Democratic Alliance was due to ask the Defence Ministry in parliament today to address claims that about 70 army vehicles, over 110 weapons and items of equipment, and millions of rands worth of supplies have disappeared from the South African base in Burundi.

Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, who has admitted that addressing the logistics crisis in the department was one of its main challenges, last month revealed to parliament that the following pieces of weaponry “have both been lost and stolen on peace support missions”:

n47 680 x 5.56mm rifle rounds

n1 800 x 7.62mm rifle rounds

n97 x 60mm mortar bombs

n46 x 5.56 mm R4 rifles

nThree light machine-guns, two 9mm pistols, two grenades and four R4 magazines.

Lekota stressed that the SANDF staff were instructed to safeguard arms and ammunition, and rectify any “deficiencies” they noticed in such security arrangements.

But, according to Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, there was no evidence that cases of losses or damages to army property were followed up on a regular basis.

“In certain instances, cases are not reported or actions taken to recover losses from members.”

To make matters worse, Fakie said, various files pertaining to losses were not submitted to the Auditor-General and loss and damage registers were not properly maintained.

“Critical information was omitted and was not regularly checked by management to ensure accuracy and completeness,” Fakie said.

This year, for the first time, the department’s financial statements did not disclose just how much the loss of its property was costing taxpayers.

In its 2004/2005 report, the department’s financial statements totalled the cost of the loss of defence property at over R48,7- million.

This year’s financial statements also failed to provide any financial value for the SANDF’s weapon and ammunitions inventory, effectively indicating that the Department of Defence has no idea how many weapons are in its possession.

Worryingly, the report did, however, note that the department’s “unauthorised expenditure awaiting authorisation” amounted to over R495-million.

Fakie, who hit the Defence Department with a qualified audit for the fifth year in a row, slammed the SANDF for the following:

nInadequate control over the “general administration of demands”.

nDeficient controls over the issue and receipt of vouchers.

n”Internal controls over the security and general administration of vehicles, weapons and ammunition were found to be deficient.”

n Storage facilities were found to be deficient in that inventory and assets were not stored under prescribed and ideal conditions. This could result in the state incurring material losses,” said Fakie, in apparent reference to reports that the SANDF located an ammunition dump 800m from Bujumbura airport and within 600m of two large fuel tanks.

nStocktakes were not performed at all units/General Support Bases during the year and the stock-taking certificates received from certain units were found to be of “doubtful accuracy”.

Referring specifically to SANDF operations abroad, Fakie reiterated that control over the shipping of assets to foreign destinations was weak.

Fakie added: “As a result of the lack of controls and proper documentation, certain inventory and assets were shipped to incorrect destinations.”

Approached for comment on the steps taken to address the apparent crisis in Burundi, the Department of Defence indicated it would be able to comment only later this week, “after conducting the proper research”.

The department also declined to comment on the suspension last week of a senior logistics officer.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn told The Star that any losses in the army suffered “due to poor management and theft are a direct result of inaction on the part of the minister (Lekota) and senior SANDF management”.

He added: “The loss of ammunition, weapons and other equipment that can be used by forces within these countries poses a huge danger to SA troops and the civilian population, and will only further destabilise already volatile areas.”

been lost or stolen on peace support missions”: 47 680 x 5.56mm rifle rounds, 1 800 x 7.62mm rifle rounds 97 x 60mm mortar bombs, 46 x 5.56 mm R4 rifles, three light machine guns, two 9mm pistols, two grenades and four R4 magazines.

Lekota stressed that the SANDF staff were instructed to safeguard arms and ammunition and rectify any “deficiencies” that they noticed in any such security arrangements.

But, according to Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, there was “no evidence” that cases of losses or damages to army property were followed up “on a regular basis”.

“In certain instances, cases are not reported or actions taken to recover losses from members,” he said.

To make matters worse, Fakie said, “various files pertaining to losses” were not submitted to the Auditor-General and loss and damage registers were “not properly maintained”.

“Critical information was omitted and was not regularly checked by management to ensure accuracy and completeness,” he said.

This year, for the first time, the department’s financial statements did not disclose just how much the loss of its property was costing taxpayers.

In its 2004/2005 report, the department’s financial statements totalled the cost of the loss of defence property at more than R48.7m.

This year’s financial statements also failed to provide any financial value for the SANDF’s weapon and ammunitions inventory, effectively indicating that the Department of Defence has no idea of how many weapons are currently in its possession.

Disturbingly, the report noted that the department's “unauthorised expenditure awaiting authorisation” amounted to over R495m.

Fakie, who hit the defence department with a qualified audit for the fifth year in a row, slammed the SANDF for the following:

l “Inadequate” control over the “general administration of demands”.

l “Deficient” controls over the issue and receipt of vouchers.

l “Internal controls over the security and general administration of vehicles, weapons and ammunition were found to be deficient”.

South African National Defence Force troops were sent to Burundi to keep the peace, but it appears the poor management of equipment and the theft of South African weapons, which are ending up in rebel hands, is fuelling the conflict.

Sources have confirmed that more than R27 million worth of supplies as well as millions of rand in vehicles, guns, ammunition and bombs have vanished from the South African army base in Burundi over the past four years.

The missing vehicles are believed to include several Casspirs, a Mazda ambulance, Isuzu bakkies, a fire-fighting truck, Land Rover Defenders, trucks, a water tanker, a Yamaha motorcycle, forklift trucks, Toyota Condor vans, several cars, a tractor and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

It has also been established that among the weapons missing are 40 mortar bombs, 54 R4 rifles, four R5 rifles, a sniper rifle, two 12-gauge shotguns, eight machineguns, eight pistols and 27 grenade launchers.

A 15 KVA generator is also understood to be missing.

While army authorities have previously blamed poor accounting practices for losses, a newspaper investigation has found that on one occasion at least 50 missing SANDF mortar bombs – out of 80 bombs stolen using an army-owned Land Rover – were found in a FNL Phalipe-Hutu rebel group camp in Kiriri, Burundi.

The FNL has been blamed for a series of mortar attacks on the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, in which at least 300 people are known to have died.

It has also been learned that a case of 5.56 ammunition – part of 1.5 million SANDF-owned rounds that went missing in Burundi – was found in the possession of Burundian government forces in 2004.

As yet, the SANDF has failed to disclose how many millions of rands worth of weapons, vehicles and supplies it has lost to theft or mismanagement and, disturbingly, it seems the SANDF has no idea of how many weapons are in its possession.

Now, following a scathing auditor-general’s report into the Department of Defence’s “inadequate” and “deficient” accounting practices, the Democratic Alliance is to ask the defence ministry in parliament today to answer claims that nearly 70 army vehicles, more than 110 weapons and equipment and millions of rand worth of supplies have disappeared from the South African army base in Burundi.

Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, who has conceded that addressing the logistics crisis in the department is one of its main challenges, last month divulged to parliament that the following pieces of weaponry “have both.

The poor management of SANDF equipment and the theft of weapons that ended up in rebels' hands are fueling the conflict in Burundi -- where SA troops had been sent to keep the peace, The Star newspaper in Johannesburg has reported.

It said sources confirmed that millions of rands worth of vehicles, guns, ammunition and bombs had vanished from the SANDF army base in Burundi over the last four years.

The South African Department of Defence indicated it would be able to comment only later this week "after conducting the proper research," report said.

Michael Schmidt becomes an SANDF guinea pig

The South African military has started testing a new policy to “embed” journalists with its forces, as the US military did during the Iraq invasion

The SA National Defence Force allowed a select media group to attend its annual brigade-level live-fire exercise last week.

The idea is to develop a corps of accredited “war correspondents”, who will also be allowed to take part, on the ground, in any peacekeeping and combat operations the SANDF may engage in.

But the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has warned that many of the policy’s provisions are too broad and compromise the media’s watchdog role.

The concept of embedding journalists and photographers with “own forces” in combat dates as far back as the Crimean War of 1854-1856, which gave the British reading public both positive news – on the nursing work of Florence Nightingale – and negative news on the disastrous charge of the Light Brigade.

In recent times, the concept itself fell under the spotlight after it was overhauled by US military strategists as “embedding” during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Curiously, embedding was adopted in response to media organisations’ complaints about meagre access to fighting units and the frontlines during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Although the practice gave journalists something of the access they wanted, it came at a price: they were largely corralled in a tightly controlled environment and subjected to military censorship and a barrage of spin – issues highlighted in Jehan Noujaim’s 2004 documentary Control Room.

Two years ago, while flying back from a visit to Rwanda, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told a handful of journalists on the trip that he was in favour of putting together a group of defence writers who would be allowed privileged access to SANDF operations based on their understanding of the issues involved.

Now that wish is starting to crystallise, as a group of journalists is given access to the annual Exercise Seboka at the Army Battle School in Lohatlha, Northern Cape.

Normally, a specific media “open day” would allow defence correspondents to sit and watch a distant combat display.

But this year journalists were embedded with units of their choice to witness the exercise first-hand.

We were required to sign a nine-page document that both indemnified the army against claims that might arise if we were injured or killed, and also laid out what may finally become policy ground rules.

FXI director Jane Duncan said the agreement “embeds journalists in a manner that favours the SANDF rather than the media” – although Lieutenant Colonel Des Gouws, the army intelligence officer assigned to accompany us, said he believed “there should be some rules on both sides”.

The document required us to comply with orders and regulations issued by the command under which we fell, plus a slew of legislation.

Duncan warned this meant that “the government asserts the right ... to usurp editors’ authority to direct the newsmaking process”.

We were allowed to speak openly to all ranks, and eavesdrop on radio traffic.

The document required war correspondents to “refrain from joining the forces of any other power, without the prior approval of the Ministry of Defence, either as a correspondent or in any other capacity during the continuance of operations”.

This clause may prove problematic, as journalists should, at their own risk, be able to move from frontline to rearward areas, or even to risk death or capture by crossing into enemy territory.

For example, during Operation Boleas, the 1998 South Africa/Botswana invasion of Lesotho to quell an armed forces mutiny, journalists moved freely, both independent of and alongside South African armoured columns, both of which brought them in the line of fire.

Duncan said some believed the real reason for the invasion was to protect South Africa’s interests, and journalists should be free to report on such views.

If journalists, for reasons of camouflage, put on the uniform of the forces they are travelling with, they cannot be distinguished from legitimate targets by the enemy and can be held as prisoners of war if captured, so most war correspondents tend to adopt neutral colours, such as khaki.

The most troublesome clause is: “In the event of censorship regulations being imposed, I hereby undertake to submit for clearance all copy, photographs, tapes, film, or other materials, or books or articles intended for broadcast or publication, concerning the force to which I am accredited, produced by me during the period of operations and (for) the duration of the assignment.”

Such censorship is a certainty in times of war, but not applicable in peacetime. Duncan warned that while “the Defence Act is much less restrictive than it was under apartheid, the only provision in the new act for censorship is by regulation, where a state of national defence is called by the president”.

The SANDF’s Gouws said that in his view, “the rule should be to report on what is currently happening, but not on what’s going to happen, so no journalists should be present at planning sessions or be allowed to report on planned movements”.

This is a reasonable compromise, but one that may not be upheld in the heat of battle.

The army said that “no duty of care is owed by the SA Army to the correspondent or their property”, but when defence analyst Leon Engelbrecht sprained his ankle while embedded with a group of tactical intelligence soldiers, he was airlifted for hospital treatment.

Military group in KZN worries cabinet Parliamentary Editor CAPE TOWN There is mounting concern in government over the 1000-strong group of men occupying a farm in northern KwaZulu-Natal as it is believed they intend to undergo military training in Swaziland or Mozambique.

They claim to be former activists in the struggle against apartheid who saw service in self-protection and defence units in the townships.

They are demanding integration into the SA National Defence Force a full 12 years after those who fought for apartheid were integrated with those who fought against it.

Speaking at a post-cabinet media briefing, chief government spokesman Themba Maseko said: A report was given on the occupation of farmland in KwaZulu-Natal. Cabinet expressed concern and noted that the minister of defence would be meeting relevant parties to attend to the matter urgently. In response to questions, Maseko said it was known that the group wanted to jump the border for military training in Swaziland. He said the SANDF and the intelligence community were investigating and gathering as much information about the men as possible.

The men were aged between 16 and 50 and Maseko said he found this strange. If the younger ones were 16 now, they would have been very young members of the self-defence units, he said.

Asked if government had held any discussions with Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on the matter, Maseko said the IFP had dissociated itself from the men and their actions. He said the cabinet also noted with concern incidents of violence in schools where pupils had been killed. These incidents, coupled with the violent crimes that are being committed by bloodthirsty criminals on our streets, highlight the need for a collective effort by all South Africans to declare war on crime. The tragic killing of an infant during an armed robbery in Johannesburg is a clear indication that these criminals do not value life, Maseko said.

He said the best tribute to those who died was to intensify the fight against crime.

The SA National Defence Force is to close down 118 SA Infantry Battalion in Lephalale (formerly Ellisras), SABC radio news reported on Thursday.

This is in accordance with the handing back of certain tasks and functions to the SA Police Service.

The Department of Defence says plans have been put in place to provide personnel with various options to choose from in order to ensure minimum disruption.

Members would not lose their posts but some may be transferred to other units, SABC reported.

A four-star American General, the second highest rank in the United States military, arrived in South Africa on Tuesday to examine ways of assisting the development of the SA National Defence Force.

General William Ward, deputy commander of US European Command, arrived only a few weeks after US president George Bush cleared the way for military aid to nearly two dozen countries, including South Africa, which have not agreed to shield US soldiers from action before the International Criminal Court.

"There are things going to happen as result of that waiver being in place," Ward said, but denied that his visit was directly related to it.

He met with General Godfrey Ngwenya, Chief of the SANDF, in Pretoria and received briefings on the future plans for the SANDF.

"Not surprisingly the commonality of objectives are just so apparent," Ward told journalists at a press conference afterwards.

During his three-day visit he is also due to visit the SA Army College in Pretoria, the Tempe Military Base and Air Force Base Bloemspruit in Bloemfontein, and Simonstown Naval Base in Cape Town.

South Africa was one of the countries who refused to exempt US soldiers from possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court and as such was under a four-year-old US military assistance ban. However earlier this month Bush waived the restrictions.

Notwithstanding the ban South Africa has already benefited from the controversial African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance (Acota) programme, which sees US training and equipment for peacekeepers.

Although Ward said his visit did not come as result of Bush's announcement US military assistance to the SANDF was high on the agenda of talks.

"First we want to see what it is that the South Africans want, and once that has been put on the table, on the basis of that, what we could do," he said.

Ward did not want to be drawn on any specifics.

About 1000 people claiming to be former Apla, SANDF, Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) members and new recruits have been arrested after illegally camping on a sugar farm in northern KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Tuesday.

Police spokesman Superintendent Jay Naicker said the group of men, who had been camped on Leeukop Farm near the N2 since last Tuesday, were arrested late Monday after they failed to heed a warning by KwaZulu-Natal Safety and Security MEC Bheki Cele.

Naicker said pepper spray and rubber bullets were used as some groups tried to stone the nearly 100 officers brought in to remove them.

The group were bussed to the Onverwacht border post near Pongola on October 6, before they moved towards the Pongola Bridge.

Naicker said police had worked through the night to deal with the paper

work to charge all the men.

He could not say exactly how many men there were, as they were still being charged on Tuesday morning.

There were not enough cells at Mkuze police station, where the men were being charged. Several police stations in the surrounding region had to accommodate the arrested men.

Police monitored the group of men who had slowly moved in the direction of Mkuze before stopping at Leeukop Farm.

It was believed that the group were connected with a previous group of 365 that were arrested in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Manguzi recently for violating the Regulations of Gatherings Act.

There were reports that a number of those arrested in Manguzi had also made their way to Leeukop farm.

The Zululand Observer last week reported that the group had first gathered at the King Dinizulu Hall in Eshowe before boarding buses to Pongola.

Sugar farm owner Lauri Brecher said no aggression had been shown to him or his farm manager by the group.

DESPERATE cash-in-transit guards are appealing to the government to deploy heavily armed SANDF troops to protect them as they enter the festive season, which is notorious for an escalation in violent gang robberies.

They are to meet national Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi tomorrow morning -- in the wake of two more cash-heist attacks yesterday that cost another guard his life.

The guard was killed and another was wounded in a heist in Durban; in a separate incident, a gang of 16 made off with an undisclosed sum following a robbery in Johannesburg.

Earlier this week, a cash-in-transit heist in central Johannesburg claimed the youngest victim of the scourge, 15-month-old Khensani Mitileni, who was shot dead on Tuesday while strapped to her mother's back.

At a meeting scheduled for 10am in Tshwane, the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) -- which has more than 500000 members -- and its affiliate, the 5000-strong Motor Transport Workers' Union (MTWU), will tell Selebi that their members are powerless against the brazen gangs that kill with impunity.

They want Selebi to agree to bring in the military to protect guards and the public when money is moved in cities, shopping centres and malls.

They will tell Selebi it is "suicidal" to send guards armed with 9mm pistols to defend cash against criminals armed with AK-47s.

And they will tell him that security guards are unable to perform their jobs because they fear being shot dead or burnt alive.

Armed troops were last seen on South Africa's streets in the dying days of apartheid when the National Party government was battling to keep a lid on township violence. The South African government is known to be cautious about deploying troops to do police work as this would militarise society and create a siege psychosis.

Emily Fourie, general secretary of the MTWU, said yesterday that the call was backed by South Africa's top cash-management companies, Fidelity, SBV and Coin Security, who move billions of rands countrywide.

Wahl Bartmann, chief executive of Fidelity Springbok Security Services, said the government needed to be more involved in fighting cash-in-transit heists. He supported the call for the army to be brought in.

"These people will do anything for money," he said -- and the army would be better equipped to fight off cash-in-transit gangs, who were often former military people.

He said guards were outnumbered and outgunned by well-organised gangs who travelled in groups of more than 10 and carried automatic weapons.

Fourie said the death of Baby Khensani this week was the final straw.

As the picture of her body lying in a street made front pages around the country, cash-in-transit guards were threatening a national strike.

Such action would have plunged the country into a crisis as billions of rands would not have been banked or moved.

But the strike was averted late on Friday, following talks between Fedusa, MTWU and Fidelity, Coin Security and SBV.

Fourie said security guards had to bear the brunt of the murder and mayhem.

"They are so traumatised. If they are lucky enough to survive a heist, they are then put on a lie-detector to find out if they were involved.

"If they hand the money over, they are asked why they gave in so easily ... They cannot win."

Grant Dunnington is chief executive of SBV, which last month had to deal with the gruesome deaths of three of its guards, who were burnt to death after a gang doused their van with petrol and set it alight in a heist in Limpopo.

He said: "Any additional support would be welcomed. It is up to the police to ask for the military to assist if they cannot provide the support.

"We support Emily Fourie in terms of what she needs, and we asked her if she wanted us to go with her to the police commissioner, but she wanted to go on her own," he said.

According to the latest crime statistics cash-in-transit heists have surged by 74% in the past year.

As many as 1000 former members of Apla, the SANDF, Umkhonto WeSizwe (MK) and new recruits were camping on a sugar farm in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, police said on Thursday.

Police spokesman Inspector Bonginkosi Mkhize said the group of men camped on Leeukop Farm near the N2, had been brought to the Onverwacht border post near Swaziland by bus last week.

He said police had monitored the group of men who had slowly moved toward

Mkuze.

It is believed that the group were connected with a previous group of 365 who were arrested in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Manguzi in the Kosi Bay area last week. They were charged in connection with the Regulation of Gatherings Act.

There were reports that large numbers of those arrested belonged to the infamous Inkatha Freedom Party's (IFP) Self Protection Units (SPU).

Mkhize said police had been monitoring the group since last Friday. The Zululand Observer reported that the group had gathered at the King Dinizulu Hall in Eshowe before boarding buses to Pongola.

Mkhize said: "We have found that they have a mix of those SPU's, MKs,

Apla and SANDF."

He denied reports that the group had crossed the border.

"They camped there before moving to Mkuze."

Sugar farm owner Lauri Brecher said the men had been camping on his farm next the N2 for the past two days.

He said they had shown no aggression towards him.

"They're eating my sugar cane, building huts, drinking my water and I don't know what to do," Brecher said.

"How do I go and file 500 cases of trespassing against people I don't even know?"

He said he had been told the group of men wanted to go to Swaziland "to complain to the United Nations about (President Thabo) Mbeki".

"I know its not against me, but I am sitting with this problem that nobody wants to do anything about," said Brecher.

Neighbouring game farm owner Kemp Landman said according to wardens the men had snared three warthogs on his farm on Thursday morning.

The incident was reported to the police.

He was concerned that the situation would not have resolved itself before he took delivery of some black rhino from Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.

"If they (Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife) see this, they won't want to deliver them (the rhino)," he said.

Kemp said he believed the men were dissatisfied that they could not join the army.

Mkhize said it was not certain whether the men were armed.

A light aircraft that went missing after it took off from Pietermaritzburg was found on Wednesday morning with no survivors on board, rescue services said. The plane, with the bodies of three occupants, was found at Rhino's Peak in the southern Drakensberg, near Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, said Santjie White, a spokesperson for the South African Search and Rescue Organisation. The aircraft took off from Cato Ridge, near Pietermaritzburg, on Tuesday afternoon but never arrived at its intended destination, Tempe in Bloemfontein. A ground search in the Drakensberg near Himeville on Tuesday evening turned up no results. By Wednesday morning, poor weather in the area lifted, allowing police and a team from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to conduct an aerial search, said police spokesperson Superintendent Zandra Hechter. Rescuers had to travel by helicopter and then hike for four hours to reach the crash site, she said.

Search parties from the police force, SANDF, the Mountain Club of South Africa and several KwaZulu-Natal organisations were involved in attempts to find the missing plane.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has launched an investigation into a shooting at the Tempe Military Base in Bloemfontein, which left three people dead on Thursday.

The SANDF said investigations into the shooting incident will run concurrently with the South African Police Service (SAPS) investigations.

The incident left three people dead, two of the deceased were soldiers at the base while the third was the wife of one of the deceased.

A third soldier involved in the shooting has been admitted to Medi City Clinic in Bloemfontein and is undergoing emergency surgery, his condition is critical.

"The circumstances that lead to the incident are not known," said Defence spokesperson Brigadier General Kwena Mangope.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota; SANDF Chief, General Godfrey Ngwenya and the Secretary for Defence January Masilela have extended their sincere sympathies and condolences to the families and friends of the deceased.

The shooting incident at the base was not the first.

In 1999, Lieutenant Sibusiso Madubela went on a shooting spree, targeting white soldiers.

That incident left seven people dead and five others seriously injured.

Lieutenant Madubela was later shot dead by one of the injured.

A soldier on guard duty at the Army Support Base in Bloemfontein shot a high ranking officer and his wife dead on Thursday morning, before wounding a colleague and committing suicide, Free State police said.

Superintendent Sam Makhele said Captain Tlakisa Samuel Matlabe, 42, was on his way to take his 40-year-old wife, Dikeledi Jocobeth, to the school where she was a teacher when the incident happened.

One of the couple's children, a four-year-old boy, was with them. The child was unharmed, Makhele said.

Their other two children were walking to a nearby school at the time of the shooting.

After killing the couple, 43-year-old Private Thokoane Ezekiel Motsilili shot his unarmed colleague, Private Ferrington Mbongiseni Ndimande, 33, critically wounding him.

Motsilili then turned his R4 rifle on himself.

Ndimande was admitted to the Medi-Clinic hospital in Bloemfontein and has undergone emergency surgery.

In a statement the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) said his condition was critical.

Matlabe's children received counselling at 3Military Hospital later on Thursday.

The SANDF said it regretted the shooting incident.

Police spent more than two hours on the scene to remove the bodies.

The window on the driver's side of Matlabe's car was shattered while two bullet holes were visible in the windscreen, directly in front of the driver.

Motsilili's covered body lay towards the back of the vehicle on the sidewalk near the guard house.

Free State police commissioner, Amon Mashigo, expressed his condolences to his colleagues in the defence force.

"We reject in the strongest possible terms this kind of behaviour," Mashigo, who visited the scene, said.

He said the motive for the shooting was subject to investigation.

"We do not have a witness at this stage," Mashigo said, but added they would get to the bottom of the incident.

The general commanding officer of Tempe military base, Brigadier-General Morris Moadira said he and Matlabe were "very close friends".

"We buried his father over the weekend in Thaba Nchu, that's how close we were," Moadira said.

Moadira said the motive behind the shooting was not known.

The Chief of the South African Army, Lieutenant-General Solly Shoke has launched an urgent investigation, which will run with the police investigation.

The Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota, the Chief of the SANDF, General Godfrey Ngwenya and the Secretary of Defence, January Masilela have expressed their regret with the incident and extended their sincere condolences to the families of the deceased.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) also expressed its shock with the incident.

DA spokesman for defence, Roy Jankielsohn, said the SANDF has assured the party that a very senior delegation was currently probing the incident.

"The child who survived was receiving counselling and this would also be extended to personnel who were shocked and traumatised by the shootings," Jankielsohn said.

Jankielsohn said while Thursday's shooting was the second such incident at Tempe, the motives for the two appeared very different.

"While the first incident was racially motivated, this one appears to have a completely different motive."

He said his party would however request that Parliament's portfolio committee for defence receive a thorough briefing on the shooting once the investigation has been completed.

In September 1999 Tempe was the scene of another shooting incident.

Lieutenant Sibusiso Madubela, 28, went on a shooting spree at 1 SA Infantry Battalion, killing seven people and injuring five before he was shot by one of his victims.