defenceWeb Written by Kim Helfrich - 15 Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD) publicly acknowledged the “exceptional leadership” of outgoing SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Chief General Solly Shoke last week conveniently omitting a spat between the two some nine months ago. Last June the same committee issued a statement via Parliamentary Communication Services taking what was termed “strong exception” to the non-appearance of South Africa’s top soldier at a briefing. One of Parliament’s two defence oversight committees was to be briefed on what to date saw the single largest utilisation of military personnel in South Africa since 1994 – the arrival of COVID-19. The committee, jointly chaired by Cyril Xaba and Mamagase Nchabeleng, pointedly mentioned the non-appearance of the South African military’s only four-star general as being without apology.