Tempe’s sleeping sentries make it to Parliament

The loss of weapons and other military equipment, taken from soldiers on guard duty at Tempe military base last August, has been attributed to negligence, a lack of discipline and failure to obey orders and instructions. This emerged in response to a parliamentary question posed by Freedom Front Plus (FF+) MP Pieter Groenewald. The guards were apparently tied up with their own bootlaces and robbed of their R5 assault rifles while on sentry duty at the main entrance to Tempe military base outside Bloemfontein. "The guards were on official duty when the incident occurred but they were asleep on guard duty," the reply from Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, said. The guards were attacked and robbed of their weapons and equipment while on duty at the main entrance to the base.