{"id":47779,"date":"2026-01-18T12:59:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=47779"},"modified":"2026-01-18T12:59:47","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T12:59:47","slug":"who-defied-ramaphosa-allowed-iran-participate-navy-drills-da-demands-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/01\/18\/who-defied-ramaphosa-allowed-iran-participate-navy-drills-da-demands-answers\/","title":{"rendered":"Who defied Ramaphosa and allowed Iran to participate in Navy drills? DA demands answers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>Ramaphosa gave an order to Defence Minister Angie Motshekga to ensure Iran withdraws from the week long \u201cWill for Peace 2026.&#8221; <\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The DA has called for an urgent Parliament debate over the South African National Defence Force\u2019s (SANDF) apparent defiance of President Cyril Ramaphosa order to Defence Minister Angie Motshekga to ensure Iran withdraws from the week\u2011long \u201cWill for Peace 2026\u201d naval drills in False Bay, in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n<p>The presence of three Iranian warships off False Bay\u00a0has drawn international attention to South Africa, particularly from the United States (USA).<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-ramaphosa-s-instruction\">Ramaphosa\u2019s instruction<\/h2>\n<p>A government source confirmed that Iran had been asked to withdraw from the drills, only for the SANDF to later post a now-deleted Facebook statement saying the Iranian corvette Naghdi did participate in the sea-phase exercise.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Ramaphosa\u2019s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told <em>The Citizen<\/em>, the drills were facilitated and led by China and that the president had given an instruction to Motshekga to ensure Iran withdraws from the exercises.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday,\u00a0Motshekga said she had relayed Ramaphosa\u2019s instructions\u00a0regarding the military exercises in False Bay and had appointed a board of inquiry to determine whether they were ignored.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ:\u00a0Lamola urged to report Iran to UN as protest death toll soars<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-defiance\">\u2018Defiance\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>DA spokesperson on Defence &amp; Military Veterans Chris Hattingh said\u00a0 the drills \u201clooks less like confusion and more like defiance within the SANDF.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat is not normal neither is it acceptable and it cannot be brushed aside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe situation is made worse by the Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, publicly hailing Iran\u2019s participation, only for events to unfold in a manner that appeared to defy a reported presidential instruction. When senior officers publicly signal one direction and events on the ground follow that direction, Parliament is entitled to ask a hard question: was lawful civilian authority ignored?\u201d Hattingh said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-answers\">Answers<\/h3>\n<p>Hattingh said South Africans deserve immediate answers about why Iran participated in the sea-phase of the exercise when Ramaphosa\u2019s instruction was clear for the country not take part.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho gave the final approval? Whose instructions were followed? And why did senior SANDF leadership appear to act in defiance of a presidential directive?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this reflects a wider culture of insubordination at senior command level, including the Chief of the SANDF and the Chief of the Navy, it must be confronted now. The SANDF cannot be allowed to operate with parallel lines of authority,\u201d Hattingh said.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-us-slams-sa\">US slams SA<\/h3>\n<p>Magwenya said that the invitations to the participating BRICS countries were handled by China, with South Africa agreeing to participate and to \u201cthe use of its waters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0\u00a0US Embassy in South Africa also slammed Pretoria\u00a0for supporting Iran while it cracks down on anti-government protesters by allowing Iranian warships into South African waters for the naval exercises, which also included Russia and China.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ALSO READ:\u00a0SA concerned about deadly Iran protests, calls for \u2018maximum restraint\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#defied #Ramaphosa #allowed #Iran #participate #Navy #drills #demands #answers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ramaphosa gave an order to Defence Minister Angie Motshekga to ensure Iran withdraws from the week long \u201cWill for Peace&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47781,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47779\/revisions\/47781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}