A brazen break-in at a South African National Defence Force (SANDF) facility in Thaba Tshwane has triggered urgent safety warnings, after suspects made off with high-calibre weapons including rifles and a grenade launcher.
The burglary was discovered in late April—specifically on 27 April—with reports indicating that the perpetrators gained access by breaching the facility’s perimeter and forcing entry into a storage area. A criminal case has since been opened, and investigations are underway involving both military police and the South African Police Service.
Dakota Legoete, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, expressed deep alarm over the incident, stating that the theft goes beyond ordinary criminality.
“It does not only bother on criminality. It bothers terrorism. It also bothers the threat to our national security that such high calibre weapons which can flatten shopping malls, houses and create even a civil war are in the hands of wrong people who are the criminal element,” Legoete said. “I can tell you now we are all panicking because the country is not safe.”
Legoete sharply criticised the lack of a “learning curve” from those in charge of the defence force, noting a previous breach in 2018 when ammunition stolen from a SANDF base in Cape Town was later used in a cash-in-transit heist.
“We lost a number of rifles which were found in a cash-in-transit heist in Gauteng,” he recalled. “Now we have other ammunition and high calibre weapon. We don’t know where they are going to end.”
The chairperson demanded that “heads must roll” within the military’s senior leadership, calling for action from the executive branch, including the Minister of Defence and the office of the President as commander-in-chief.
“We cannot continue in this way where we allow our national ammunition depos to be accessed by the criminal element when we have soldiers, when we have budgets, when we have cameras and other sources of technology that we’re supposed to put in to protect our nation,” Legoete said.
He added that the committee is arranging to meet with defence officials this week on Wednesday, seeking answers on how such a breach could occur. He also suggested the culprits may have inside help: “We cannot suspect this criminal element to be somebody from the public; it must be one of force members.”
Describing the incident as “quite embarrassing” for the SANDF both domestically and internationally, Legoete warned that stolen artillery poses a direct threat to national sovereignty. “This is not happening in any country in the world. It just happened in our case, and it’s for the second time.”
The portfolio committee confirmed it will press the executive for urgent action, including precautionary suspensions while the investigation continues.
