Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The S[outh] A[frican] Army has a new chief, defence minister Mosioua Lekota announced in Pretoria on Thursday.

Maj-Gen Solly Shoke, currently chief director human resources support in the SA National Defence Force [SANDF], will assume his new post as chief of the SA Army on 1 August.

Shoke, former mission commander of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) forces in Lesotho between 1998 and 1999, replaces Lt-Gen Gilbert Ramano who is retiring at the end of July.

Shoke, who was awarded the Luthuli medal of honour for duty in Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK), completed his basic training in Angola.

According to a statement released by the SANDF, he completed his commander's course in the former United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), his intermediate staff course was done in Zimbabwe and his senior officers' orientation and command courses in South Africa.

During his time in the MK, Shoke served as unit commander of the former Transvaal. He later became part of the "national underground leadership" and after the un-banning of MK, became the national coordinator for the peace process.

SANDF spokesman Col Kwena Mangope said Shoke would conduct interviews only once he had officially taken up his post.

French Chief of the Defence Staff, General Henri Bentegeat, is in South Africa on an official four-day visit.

General Bentegeat arrived in the country yesterday and will tomorrow meet his South African counterpart General Siphiwe Nyanda.

He is also expected to hold meetings today with the government's top authorities such as the Presidency and Foreign Affairs.

He is also expected to visit several SANDF units in and outside Pretoria.

General Bentegeat was the Chief of the Military Staff of President Jacques Chirac from April 1999 until October 2002, when he became Chief of the Defence Staff.

He is regarded as an influential figure on drafting of the many facets of the French military policy in Africa.

General Bentegeat is also expected to present the facets of the policy during a conference to be held at the Institute for Security Studies in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

The French Embassy in Pretoria released a statement today detailing the involvement of French military personnel in peace missions in Africa.

It said about 1 100 French soldiers were in Senegal, 960 in Chad, 500 in Ivory Coast and 800 in Gabon.

Since 1998, France had been actively involved in the RECAMP programmes aimed at helping the African States to acquire military capabilities for peace-keeping operations, said the statement.

The programmes also contributed to the development and the strengthening of the security role played by African sub-regional organisations, it added.

It said France was in fact re-orientating its help to take into account the will expressed by the African nations to assume the leading role in the management of crises on the African continent.

RECAMP 3 was organised in the SADC region, with among others joint peacekeeping exercices in Tanzania, South Africa in February 2003 and in Mozambique in June 2004.

The new programme, RECAMP 4, will begin in Benin in December 2004.

South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a military co-operation agreement in Pretoria on Friday.

In it, South Africa agreed to help train the new DRC army once all the country's existing forces had been combined into one.

The deal was signed by South Africa's Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and his DRC counterpart Jean Pierre Ondekane.

"This agreement will regulate defence cooperation between our countries. It will further strengthen mutual cooperation in the field of defence with the aim of maintaining lasting peace and security between our countries," Lekota said.

The two countries have undertaken to formulate procedures for military co-operation between their armed forces, promote co-operation in the training of military personnel and to conduct combined military exercises especially for peacekeeping.

"The exchange of military personnel at all levels will also be encouraged," he said.

The agreement comes shortly after renewed fighting in the eastern parts of the DRC indirectly claimed the lives of two SANDF soldiers who formed part of the United Nations peace keeping force in the DRC (Monuc).

South Africa's new military role will fall outside the ambit of Monuc, as it was the result of a bilateral agreement between the two countries, Lekota said.

South Africa's initial role, it was said, would be to help integrate the numerous fighting bodies into one unified defence force.

Ondekane told reporters the size of the new DRC defence force still had to be determined but said that once it was well trained, the Congolese army would work toward the development of the DRC.

Both ministers believed the agreement, which would include the sale of military equipment to the DRC by South Africa, would hasten the peace process and bring stability to the Great Lakes Region.

"A strong, well-trained army will not only benefit the DRC but its neighbours too," Ondekane said.

African peacekeeping force SA STRETCHED TO ITS LIMITS With the eastern Congo rapidly sliding into one of the world's biggest disasters and the war-ridden Darfur region in the Sudan already a humanitarian crisis, attention has again turned to the peacekeeping missions in Africa.

SA's commitments have been stretched to the limit, with troops or observer missions deployed in four of Africa's hotspots.

SA and Nigeria currently carry the brunt of Africa's peacekeeping burden and the demand is likely to increase, according to Henri Boshoff of the Institute of Security Studies. This weekend, defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota said his department needs at least R4bn/year more to cover SA's growing peacekeeping operations in Africa. The department has budgeted R700m this year alone for this purpose.

SA has a full battalion and a number of support staff in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and just short of two battalions in Burundi. It also has observers and staffers in Liberia, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

A further 10 high-ranking military observers have been earmarked for the Sudan to monitor a peace accord there. The African Union (AU) request awaits approval from cabinet, which is expected to give Lekota the go-ahead.

All missions, except for the Sudan, are under United Nations (UN) control.

"When you make this kind of commitment to the UN, you have to maintain it," says Boshoff.

A single battalion is made up of between 700 and 1200 personnel and support staff, as well as weaponry and transport. According to Boshoff, the SANDF's resources have been stretched to the limit by its peacekeeping obligations, prompting a review of current policy.

Most countries deploy their armies into peacekeeping missions on a 1:4 ratio. This means that for every battalion deployed, at least four have to be on standby and these are rotated. SA is operating on a 1:1 ratio.

"As things stand, if we are called on again, we would have to cut back on operations elsewhere," says Boshoff. Any additional operations will have to be limited to short-term assistance (not more than a month) and anything more would require dipping into the country's natural reserves, "And you definitely don't want to do that," he says.

But the demand for peacekeeping on the continent is unlikely to ease.

On Monday the UN warned that eastern Congo was fast turning into one of the world's biggest disasters, with 3,3m people, including 4500 malnourished children, out of reach of relief groups.

UN emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland says most of the 10m people in the world living in conflict areas are in the DRC. Relief groups have only recently gained access to Darfur, where Arab militia have conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing, "So there is a tremendous race against the clock there, too," he says.

The fighting around the DRC town of Bukavu resulted in 130 international aid workers relocating to Goma, leaving hundreds of thousands without food aid, health care, clean water and sanitation. The UN says the peacekeeping force in the DRC is too small to stop all the abuses. Thousands of refugees are crossing the border into Burundi, and 5000 more are at a transit camp in Rwanda, which has now closed its borders.

Human Rights Watch says government soldiers as well as dissident forces have carried out "war crimes" in Bukavu in their battle to control the city.

The DRC government last weekend made an urgent call for the UN multinational force to be strengthened. The DRC has specifically asked SA and Mozambique for assistance to integrate the various rebels forces into a single army so that they can defend their own country. SA's special envoy to the DRC, provincial & local government minister Sydney Mufamadi, says a military delegation from the DRC will meet the SANDF this weekend to discuss training and security sector reforms. Mufamadi returned from a fact-finding mission to the DRC last Friday.

Boshoff says the meeting this weekend could have a significant impact on the integration of the armies fighting in the DRC conflict and contribute to the formation of a "supreme defence council", an essential ingredient for peace in the region.

On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution for a UN-led peacekeeping operation in southern Sudan and called for a halt to fighting in western Darfur. All of which heightens the pressure on the continent's peacekeepers.

Last week leaders at the G8 summit in the US endorsed a plan to train and equip 75000 African peacekeepers by 2010. US president George W Bush is expected to ask congress for US$660m to help fund the initiative over the next five years, during which at least 50000 troops can be trained and equipped.

The initial trainees, all expected to be drawn from African nations, could include an additional 25000 peacekeepers if the need arises. However, because of age and medical fitness, SA is struggling to meet the numbers needed for deployment.

SA is reviewing its entire defence force and expects to implement an overhaul by 2010. Boshoff says this will entail a significant "re-sizing" of its personnel, which will see older members being retrained or phased out, and an annual intake of about 3000 new recruits.

The new recruits will be brought in on two-year contracts (some may be extended for a year), trained as soldiers and then released to form a citizen force. These recruits will then be called upon when they are needed. Canada uses this method effectively and SA believes it can be adapted here.

The need for a standby peacekeeping force has increased substantially with the establishment of the AU's Peace & Security Council in May.

The first aim of the council is to have a standby force in place that can be dispatched to hotspots on the continent at short notice. It requires that each of Africa's five regions must have at least one battalion on standby that can be swiftly mobilised into a peacekeeping force. The AU want this to be fully operational by 2010.

An SA National Defence Force sergeant was arrested after a 30-year-old man was shot dead in Mamelodi East in Pretoria on Tuesday, police reported.

Captain Piletji Sebola said on Wednesday the SANDF member, also 30, was drinking with patrons at Jimmy's tavern around 10.30pm.

An argument started between the soldier and Michael Manyathela, a reveller, when the latter allegedly put his foot on top of a table while dancing.

The soldier confronted Manyathela and the SANDF member's friends intervened to stop the fight.

Sebola said the soldier went out to buy a cigarette and Manyathela followed him. The men argued again and the soldier allegedly shot Manyathela once in the chest. He died at the scene.

The SANDF sergeant was apprehended and his licensed firearm was confiscated. He would appear in the Mamelodi Magistrate's Court on Thursday.

Academics specialising in defence matters, politicians, activists and journalists are all questioning whether it is closed season for transparency at the SA National Defence Force.

They fear a communication gap has opened between the military and themselves and that this will widen into a crisis of credibility.

All are reporting difficulty obtaining information on policy matters and even run-of-the-mill issues, such as the state of welfare of troops deployed on peacekeeping assignments.

As a result, they fear whether two policy documents currently being updated by the Department of Defence (DoD) -- apparently without public input -- will be republished after being reworked.

The two documents -- the Defence White Paper and Defence Review -- were drawn up and published in 1996 and 1998 respectively after lengthy public consultations.

Supporting their fear is that the military's plan to revitalise its staff by the end of this decade, dubbed "HR2010", although adopted by Cabinet well over a year ago and having the date June 2002 on its cover, has still not been made public.

After the Tempe massacre in September 1999 when a disgruntled black officer killed and wounded a number of white colleagues at a military base in Bloemfontein, the DoD cut back links with the press.

The military's network of media liaison officers was dismantled and armed forces personnel were prohibited from speaking to the press without ministerial approval -- apparently because Lekota was embarrassed by contradictory statements in the media. He was annoyed to read about the seriousness of racial tension in the military in newspapers rather than reports from his staff.

This has led to some bizarre situations such as a reporter wanting to interview troops safeguarding the election in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year being told to speak to Lekota's spokesman in Pretoria who would in turn speak to the soldiers.

The journalist afterwards said he was flabbergasted that he was expected to do a face-to-face interview by telephone via Pretoria.

As a result of this approach many journalists no longer seriously attempt to interact with the military.

Lekota announced the revising of the Defence Review and Defence White Paper in Parliament last week.

He also sought to assure MPs that South African troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo were safe. He denied claims that the South African contingent of the United Nations force lacked equipment and discipline.

But this was questioned by media reports that said that each of the four infantry companies deployed in the DRC had only four Casspir armoured personnel carriers -- of which only two were said to be serviceable at any given time -- instead of 12.

A lack of spare parts is blamed.

As a result, a section detailed to escort a truck near Goma last weekend had to ride on a Samil 20 troop carrier -- a light, unstable, two-ton truck notorious for its high centre of gravity.

Troops on the back are also completely exposed to hostile fire and landmine blasts.

The trucks were ambushed and one private was wounded.

He and another rifleman were subsequently killed when the truck overturned while attempting to speed away from the scene.

However, the DoD faces some constraints in engaging the media.

The SANDF is increasingly a foreign policy instrument. A White Paper on peacekeeping says the SANDF is not responsible for justifying its external activities.

It is the Department of Foreign Affairs' function to explain South Africa's choice of peace missions and to ensure popular buy-in.

"My opinion is they've not done this for either the DRC or Burundi and there's no sign they plan a concerted information campaign for Sudan," Institute for Security Studies defence analyst Len Le Roux said.

But where incidents like the one at Goma occur, the SANDF should answer all questions promptly and as accurately as possible.

It cannot be seen to hide behind another department or refer queries to a far-away UN bureaucracy while anxious families and friends wait for news.

Le Roux said he believed the media in general face challenges reporting defence objectively and with full understanding.

The media was sometimes inclined to accentuate the negative and not the positive.

Reporters also frequently -- out of ignorance -- confused basic definitions and concepts and got facts wrong, by, for example writing about army helicopters, when they were, in fact, operated by the SA Air Force.

"There is a responsibility on the media to understand defence and know the difference between brigades and battalions and the army and air force," Le Roux said.

But one could only have an educated media if the military took an interest in explaining itself.

This is well understood abroad.

In 2002 a US officer wrote in the official periodical Armor (SUBS: CORRECT): "The media inform the very people who pay our salaries, own our equipment and help form the opinions of the parents whose sons and daughters they entrust to us. For a significant portion of this nation, the media is their only link to the military."

Another officer, in the Marine Corps Gazette, called the media a conduit to the people -- "the device by which we explain who we are and what we do."

A US military manual in 2000 explained this further, saying it was incumbent on every soldier, sailor or airman to provide the media the access, candour, and insights necessary for an honest portrayal.

"That a reporter is ignorant of what you do, or the rules under which you operate, makes him or her no less interested. And, in any event, that reporter is going to convey something to the public," the US Marine Corps' manual added.

SA National Editors Forum deputy chairman and Rhodes journalism professor Guy Berger said defence was a critical sector of national life that merited more media coverage than it was receiving.

Asked whether journalists were frustrated in their reporting by the military, Berger said "I haven't heard any complaints from editors, but that could be because of the minimal coverage."

Berger said the media has lost some of its expertise on military matters and in the cut-backs in most newsrooms in the last ten years, defence was a "beat" that had suffered.

Hardly any newspapers other than the Afrikaans dailies Beeld and Die Burger still have dedicated defence correspondents.

Several other institutions, including Lekota's office were approached for comment but either failed to respond or could not do so by the time of publication.

A military delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will meet the Sandf [South African Defence Force] this weekend to discuss training and security sector reforms.

Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi told reporters this in Pretoria on Friday after his return from a fact finding mission to the DRC following recent outbreaks of violence there.

Security analyst Henri Boshoff said the planned meeting could have a significant impact on the integration of the armies fighting in the DRC conflict.

It could also contribute to the formation of the Supreme Defence Council, seen as an essential ingredient for peace in the region.

Mufamadi said the majority of people in the DRC were committed to the peaceful transition to democracy and that the violence was a result of pressures incurred by the slow process of reform.

"Freak incidents such as these have no chance of success," he said referring to the coup attempt on Friday [10 June] morning.

Heavy automatic weapon fire broke out in Congo's capital early on Friday after what the government had described as a failed coup attempt overnight. Residents also reported gunfire near the private residence of the DRC's President Joseph Kabila.

But Mufamadi dismissed rumours that Kabila had suspended the transition process following the early morning attack.

"We were in contact with him again this morning and he dismissed such rumours," he said, adding Kabila could not suspend the process himself even if he had wanted to.

Mufamadi said his delegation - from Foreign Affairs, the Presidency and the South African National Defence Force - spoke to all role players on his short visit including United Nations representatives.

He said everybody in the DRC was undaunted by recent events.

He however admitted that the slow pace of reform appeared to be the cause of the recent upheaval.

He said the government, restricted by "limited resources", had still not legislated amnesty, nationality or started integrating the armed forces. This he said, "was putting somewhat of a drag on the process of transition."

He said the amnesty legislation had to be speeded up because this ensured that there would be place for all after the planned election in June 2005.

Mufamadi said Kabila saw the outbreak of violence as a time to pause and take stock. Kabila acknowledged there were problems - an acknowledgement that boded well, Mufamadi said.

"It helps the international community, including South Africa, place itself and to see how best to help," he said.

Dressed in military uniform, Kabila said in his first address to the vast nation since the overnight coup that the leader of the plotters, Maj Eric Lenge of the presidential guard, was still on the run.

"The aim is too arrest them all as quickly as possible," said Kabila, adding: "For the moment, the security forces, the army, are hunting for the major."

An overnight coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of Congo was "a freak incident," South Africa's Provincial and local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi said on Friday.

"Freak incidents such as these have no chance of success.

"I've been in contact with our friends in the Congo. It (the coup) was foiled -- not surprisingly," Mufamadi said to reporters in Pretoria after his return from a fact finding mission to the DRC.

Heavy automatic weapon fire broke out in the DRC's capital Kinshasa early on Friday after the coup attempt overnight. Residents also reported gunfire near the private residence of the DRC's President Joseph Kabila.

Mufamadi said a military delegation from the DRC will meet the SANDF this weekend to discuss training and security sector reforms.

Security analyst Henri Boshoff said the planned meeting could have a significant impact on the integration of the armies fighting in the DRC conflict.

It could also contribute to the formation of the Supreme Defence Council, seen as an essential ingredient for peace in the region.

Mufamadi said the majority of people in the DRC were committed to a peaceful transition to democracy, and that recent violence there -- which prompted his visit -- was a result of pressures incurred by the slow process of reform.

He dismissed rumours that Kabila had suspended the transition process following the early morning attack.

"We were in contact with him again this morning and he dismissed such rumours," he said, adding Kabila could not suspend the process himself even if he had wanted to.

Mufamadi said his delegation -- from Foreign Affairs, the Presidency and the SA National Defence Force -- spoke to all role players on his short visit including United Nations representatives.

He said everybody in the DRC was undaunted by recent events.

He however admitted that the slow pace of reform appeared to be the cause of the recent upheaval.

He said the government, restricted by "limited resources", had still not legislated amnesty, nationality or started integrating the armed forces. This he said, "was putting somewhat of a drag on the process of transition."

He said the amnesty legislation had to be speeded up to ensured that there would "be place for all" after the planned election in June 2005.

Mufamadi said Kabila saw the outbreak of violence as a time to pause and take stock. Kabila acknowledged there were problems -- an acknowledgement that boded well, Mufamadi said.

"It helps the international community, including South Africa, pace itself and to see how best to help," he said.

-- Dressed in military uniform, Kabila said in his first address to the vast nation since the overnight coup that the leader of the plotters, Major Eric Lenge of the presidential guard, was still on the run.

"The aim is too arrest them all as quickly as possible," said Kabila, adding: "For the moment, the security forces, the army, are hunting for the major."

A military delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will meet the SANDF this weekend to discuss training and security sector reforms.

Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi told reporters this in Pretoria on Friday after his return from a fact finding mission to the DRC following recent outbreaks of violence there.

Security analyst Henri Boshoff said the planned meeting could have a significant impact on the integration of the armies fighting in the DRC conflict.

It could also contribute to the formation of the Supreme Defence Council, seen as an essential ingredient for peace in the region.

Mufamadi said the majority of people in the DRC were committed to the peaceful transition to democracy. and that the violence was a result of pressures incurred by the slow process of reform.

"Freak incidents such as these have no chance of success," he said referring to the coup attempt on Friday morning.

Heavy automatic weapon fire broke out in Congo's capital early on Friday after what the government had described as a failed coup attempt overnight. Residents also reported gunfire near the private residence of the DRC's President Joseph Kabila.

But Mufamadi dismissed rumours that Kabila had suspended the transition process following the early morning attack.

"We were in contact with him again this morning and he dismissed such rumours," he said, adding Kabila could not suspend the process himself even if he had wanted to.

Mufamadi said his delegation -- from Foreign Affairs, the Presidency and the SA National Defence Force -- spoke to all role players on his short visit including United Nations representatives.

He said everybody in the DRC was undaunted by recent events.

He however admitted that the slow pace of reform appeared to be the cause of the recent upheaval.

He said the government, restricted by "limited resources", had still not legislated amnesty, nationality or started integrating the armed forces. This he said, "was putting somewhat of a drag on the process of transition."

He said the amnesty legislation had to be speeded up because this ensured that there would be place for all after the planned election in June 2005.

Mufamadi said Kabila saw the outbreak of violence as a time to pause and take stock. Kabila acknowledged there were problems -- an acknowledgement that boded well, Mufamadi said.

"It helps the international community, including South Africa, place itself and to see how best to help," he said.

Dressed in military uniform, Kabila said in his first address to the vast nation since the overnight coup that the leader of the plotters, Major Eric Lenge of the presidential guard, was still on the run.

"The aim is too arrest them all as quickly as possible," said Kabila, adding: "For the moment, the security forces, the army, are hunting for the major."

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota delighted the Democratic Alliance in Parliament on June 1 when he expressed reservations about racial categorisation and representivity.

In comments on his budget vote in Parliament, he said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) had had problems in attracting white South Africans. He acknowledged many of them chose to go overseas when they matriculated.

He went on to ask whether at some point we should not move beyond racial targets and being defined racially as African, Indian, coloured or white as opposed to simply being South Africans.

It seems the minister is frustrated by the problems in the SANDF. By his own admission, part of the difficulty in attracting whites is they tend to go overseas after matriculation, no doubt seeking economic opportunities.

In the absence of compulsory conscription, clearly it is a person's prerogative to opt whether or not to join the defence force.

Another explanation may be that given persistent pessimism and an aversion to steps taken to correct imbalances of the past, young white people simply do not feel inclined to join an institution such as the defence force.

Since a very real possibility exists that at some time in the future they may be called upon to endanger their lives for their country, it does not make sense to do so for a country one does not feel attached to.

Employment equity can hardly be blamed for the consciousness or lack thereof by such a group of people.

The more pertinent problem that the minister's comments pose is the following: how does one even begin to motivate the validity and necessity of transforming this society at every level to a person in the minister's position as national African National Congress chairman and a member of the cabinet?

It is expected parties such as the Democratic Alliance and Freedom Front would question the need for transforming our society. It is accepted and known that they defend minority interests and would prefer that the status quo remain, no matter how they package their objections.

It might be worthwhile for the minister to remember that no country can survive by relying on the skills of 5% of the population.

One would not even need to read the many surveys to establish the economy is firmly in the hands of the same people controlling it in the apartheid years.

In state-owned enterprises while top management is being transformed, the middle management level, where decisions are carried out, remains predominantly white.

At educational institutions, while councils are being trans- formed in the formerly white universities, the staff remains predominantly white especially in crucial areas such as medicine and applied sciences.

A glance at sporting teams such as cricket and rugby would show just how fallacious the notion is that we should pause in our efforts to bring about economic and social equality in SA.

There will come a time when it will be unnecessary to implement restorative steps. It is not possible to gauge this in time. The results of the measures taken will speak for themselves and will make further steps unnecessary.

Such a stage will be reached when the economy in this country is controlled by the majority of the people, as in any other nation.

Private-sector companies will therefore not need to implement affirmative action as the demographics will already be representative both at ownership and management level. All institutions in our society will have African and other black people as the majority.

Ministers should be circumspect and sensitive to the feelings and perceptions of black people when they make statements in public about issues that are a long way off from being resolved.

Besides anything else, there are too many wounds which are still too close to the surface.

Qunta is a partner in the law firm Qunta Incorporated.

SA National Defence Force chief Siphiwe Nyanda visited three soldiers at Pretoria's 1 Military Hospital on Thursday who were injured while on peacekeeping duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo last week.

One of the patients, Private Sibongiseni Ntapane, recounted how he and his colleagues were ambushed while underway to Goma from the Rutshura military camp on Sunday.

"We suddenly heard shots and we ourselves had to shoot back," he said.

"We did not know what happened. We were near the border between Uganda and Rwanda when it all happened so fast."

The gun battle lasted half an hour before their attackers withdrew, Ntapane said.

One soldier, Rifleman Martin Mokgatle Tau, 33, was injured in the ambush. He and Rifleman Reitumetse David Matlakele, 32, died when the personnel carrier transporting them and their colleagues back to base overturned.

Eleven others were injured and admitted to different hospitals in the DRC.

With blood-shot eyes and stitches in his face, the driver of the overturned vehicle, Private Mpumelelo Kraai, 32, turned uncomfortably in his bed when asked to describe what happened.

"I just lost control of the vehicle," he murmured.

With his wife Elda and four-month old baby Yoliwa at his bedside, Kraai, from 10 SA Infantry Battalion (10 SAI), told how he raced back to Rutshura with the injured after the skirmish. He had been in the DRC for a month.

Elda Kraai said she was shocked and worried when informed on Monday of the events, and relieved to see her husband safe.

Six of those injured in the accident were transferred to 1 Military Hospital on Monday. Three of them have since been discharged.

Nyanda said the South African soldiers remaining in the DRC as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force were being made as safe as possible.

"I told Parliament last week it was safe, but not as safe as houses," he told reporters at the hospital.

South African troops were prepared to "become more robust" should the UN force's mandate in the DRC change, Nyanda added. At present they were restricted to using force only to defend themselves or civilians.

Nyanda believed Sunday's attack had not been aimed at the South Africans as such, but at the UN force as a whole by parties outside the peace negotiations.

"We are perceived by everybody to be impartial and not a single complaint had been received -- at least by me," he said.

Some of the hospitalised soldiers said the DRC's civilian population was divided over the presence of the peacekeeping force.

Tau and Matlakele are to be buried with full military honours this weekend, the SANDF said.

Matlakele is to be buried from his home in Mmabatho in the North West at 7am on Saturday. The funeral would be conducted by 10 SAI.

Tau would be buried at the Dinokana Village in Zeerust in the North West at 7am on Sunday. His funeral would be conducted by 2 SAI.

"The Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, the Secretary for Defence January Masilela, and the chief of the SANDF, General Siphiwe Nyanda, express their sincere condolences to the bereaved families," the SANDF said in a statement.

Lekota would visit the families of the two deceased soldiers later in the day.

The two South African soldiers who died while on peacekeeping duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday are to be buried this weekend, the SA National Defence Force said on Thursday.

The two funerals would be accorded full military honours, the SANDF said in a statement.

Rifleman Reitumetse David Matlakele, 32, is to be buried from his home in Mmabatho in the North West at 7am on Saturday. The funeral would be conducted by 10 SA Infantry Battalion.

Rifleman Martin Mokgatle Tau, 33, would be buried at the Dinokana Village in Zeerust in the North West at 7am on Sunday. His funeral would be conducted by 2 SA Infantry Battalion.

"The Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, the Secretary for Defence January Masilela, and the chief of the SANDF, General Siphiwe Nyanda, express their sincere condolences to the bereaved families," the statement read.

The two soldiers were part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission to the DRC.

Earlier this week, Lekota said Tau was shot in the leg when a convoy was ambushed near Goma, on the country's border with Rwanda. The soldiers returned fire and their attackers fled.

The military vehicle transporting the men overturned while returning them to base -- killing Tau and Matlakele.

Eleven others were injured in the accident, and were admitted to different hospitals.

South Africa National Defence Force (SANDF) chief, General Siphiwe Nyanda today visited the four soldiers who were injured in an accident that killed two South Africans in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday.

The deceased and the injured were part of the UN peacekeeping mission in that country.

The two will be buried in Mmabatho and Zeerust on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

The injured are receiving treatment at the 1Military Hospital in Pretoria.

Speaking to BuaNews from his hospital bed rifleman Mpumelelo Kraai (38) said he would love to go back to the DRC as soon as he recovered from his injuries.

"I love my job and I would go back as soon as I have recovered," he said.

General Nyanda said the SANDF would assess the situation in the DRC to see if more advanced military equipment was needed.

"We always ensure that our soldiers are safe, their safety is our main focus," he said. "We cannot risk the lives of our soldiers."

In a statement after a meeting in Cape Town yesterday, Cabinet saluted the two South African soldiers who died.

It also welcomed the improvement of security in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reiterating the recent violence in the eastern town of Bukavu will not derail the peace process.

There are currently 1 400 South Africans troops deployed in various parts of DRC as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission there.

Cabinet has welcomed the improvement of security in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reiterating the recent violence in the eastern town of Bukavu will not derail the peace process.

In a statement after a meeting in Cape Town yesterday, Cabinet saluted the two South African soldiers who died in an accident in an operation around Bukavu.

Several other soldiers under the United Nations Mission in the DRC were injured during an attack in Bukavu.

"Government is confident that these developments will not impact on the overall peace process in this country. On behalf of all South Africans, we salute the SANDF soldiers who died in an accident, after they had been involved in an operation around Bukavu.

"We convey our condolences to their next-of-kin, and wish those who were injured a speedy recovery," said Cabinet.

"Normalcy" has returned in Bukavu after the Congolese government troops yesterday retook control of the eastern town that was captured by dissident rebels during the weekend.

Sebastian Lapierre, a UN spokesperson has been quoted as saying government troops retook the town without any fighting as Jules Mutebutsi, a rebel leader, and his men fled.

"Mutebutsi's soldiers have run away as the government troops are moving back in. People are playing drums. Mutebutsi is nowhere to be seen," Lapierre said.

The attack on Bukavu sparked off fears the two rebel groups might derail the peace process in the DRC signed in Pretoria last year to end four years of brutal warfare in that country.

The all-inclusive peace accord installed a transitional power sharing government based on the principles of inclusivity, nation building, accountability and respect for the territorial integrity of the DRC.

The agreement provided for DRC President Joseph Kabila to remain head of state after the death of his father, Laurent, for a two-year period, after which elections will be held to elect a new government. The DRC elections are due to be held next year.

The war in DRC has drawn troops from seven other African nations, like Uganda, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, many of which have been accused of looting the anarchic country's resources.

The war is estimated to have left about 2.5 million dead in the mineral-rich, but impoverished, country.

South Africa also expressed confidence that further progress would be made to bring peace and democracy as well as economic growth and development in Burundi.

Government is to alter the policy regulations that have guided the functioning of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says the changes would be effected on the White Paper on Defence and the Defence Review by the end of this year.

Presenting his Budget vote in Parliament today, Mr Lekota explained that the role envisaged for the defence force ten years ago had changed, citing the country's increased involvement in peacekeeping efforts on the continent.

He cited experiences South Africa had learnt from peacekeeping efforts in Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

"A defence force engaged in peacekeeping operates entirely different from a defence force at war. Peacekeeping strives to achieve sustainable peace," he said.

Thus, training of members involved in peacekeeping should be based on international law, respect for human life and human rights, the minister added.

He said the Defence Review did not foresee the role the country would play in bringing stability and security around Africa.

The minister said changes would also be made to the internal workings of the Department of Defence to enhance its ability to function effectively.

He announced that the entire top structure of the department would be involved in the review process.

He described it as a "crucial exercise", which would drive the last phase of the transformation of the department.

The minister added the country's involvement in peacekeeping had been a learning experience.

From Apartheid to Democracy: The Civil-Military Relations in the Republic of South Africa  by Burchert, Thomas H  (thèse) 55 pages juin 2004

http://stinet.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=A424664&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf 

The Democratic Alliance said on Monday it noted with deep regret the death of two South African peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the weekend.

"The loss of life of any of our troops is always tragic. It is made even more so when it is considered that these soldiers were engaged in the noble work of bringing peace to one of Africa's worst conflicts," DA leader Tony Leon said in a statement.

The two soldiers were part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the DRC. They were shot dead when a convoy they were travelling in was ambushed -- reportedly by Hutu rebels -- near Goma, on the country's border with Rwanda.

Nine other peacekeepers were wounded in the attack.

"We hope that Parliament will be apprised of the circumstances of their death as soon as possible, and the future of the peacekeeping mission and implications for it in view of the deteriorating security situation in the DRC.

"However, all personnel of the SANDF (SA National Defence Force) deserve the support of the country during their mission. Our thoughts are with the families of the soldiers at this difficult time," Leon said.

Major General Derrick Mgwebi, 48, this week became the first South African to head a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission when he assumed the command of the UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB).

Mgwebi on Tuesday donned a UN blue beret at a ceremony in Bujumbura to mark the end of the African Union Mission in Burundi, of which he had also been the military head.

The AU mandated the deployment of the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB) on April 2, 2003 for an initial period of one year. The mandate was extended for an additional two months to allow the UN the opportunity to arrange for the establishment of a UN peace mission.

On May 21, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted resolution 1545 (2004) to create a UN Operation in Burundi (ONUB), as from June 1. UN Deputy Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Carolyn McAskie, of Canada, was appointed as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative and chief of mission.

Mgwebi was identified as the force commander for the ONUB.

ONUB is operating under a Chapter VII mandate and troops will be deployed for a period of six months from June 1 "with the intention to renew the mandate for further periods".

The force has a variety of tasks -- including disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), electoral assistance (which should take place before October 31 this year), and facilitation of the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced people.

ONUB will have a mandated troop composition of 5,650, including 200 observers, 125 staff officers and 120 civilian police.

About 2,700 AMIB troops, made up of contingents from South Africa, Ethiopia and Mozambique, were incorporated into ONUB. Troops from Pakistan, Nepal and Angola are expected to join in due course.

Mgwebi, who is on detached duty to the UN, is currently also the General Officer Commanding of the awkwardly named "Joint Operations Operational Headquarters" within the SA National Defence Force's Joint Operations Division (JOD).

The division was created during the defence reforms of the late 1990s in light of international practice -- such as the US Goldwater-Nicholls reforms -- and local experience.

Prior to the change, joint operations were conducted in an ad hoc manner with the highest ranking officer of the service contributing the most forces being appointed the "executor" for a specific operation and other services being placed "in support".

Initially JOD staff officers took care of both the policy and planning as well as the operational-level command and control. When the increasing number of peace missions and other tasks made this impractical, Mgwebi's post was created.

Mgwebi's headquarters controls nine tactical headquarters -- one per province and a number of temporary joint task force headquarters for external missions.

Within the JOD, Mgwebi's headquarters and that of the General Officer Commanding Special Forces are responsible for executing operations while the Chief of Joint Operations and his staff are responsible for strategic-level planning and policy.

The nine tactical headquarters control SANDF elements assigned to border protection and police support while the ad hoc external task forces are in effect the South African contributions to peacekeeping missions in Burundi and the DR Congo.

The South African slice of ONUB includes the Army's 46 Brigade as well as SA Navy, SA Air Force and SA Military Health Service and logistics elements.

While Mgwebi is away, his deputy, Brigadier General Jan Hougaard, who won South Africa's then-highest award for bravery, the Honorus Crux, as a captain in action in southern Angola in 1982 with the now much-maligned 32 Battalion, is standing in as acting GOC.

Mgwebi, born December 28, 1956, grew up in the Eastern Cape.

He was commissioned in the Transkei Defence Force (TDF) in 1978 and rose to command its Special Forces Regiment from 1987 to 1989.

Until 1994 he was the TDF's director of operations and training.

After integration into the SANDF in 1997, he was military secretary to Defence Minister Joe Modise before becoming GOC Mpumalanga (Lowveld) Command.

He became the first GOC of the Infantry Formation on April 1, 1999, a post be held until March last year.

He was posted to the JOD as the first GOC Joint Operations Operational Headquarters in April last year.

Mgwebi also holds a Diploma in Defence Management from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and is currently doing a degree in Public Administration at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, a distance learning institution.

He is also a graduate of the Senior Command and Staff Course and the Joint Staff Course.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota's views on the difficulties of achieving racial representivity were both welcomed on Wednesday, and dismissed as having missed the point.

Lekota told the National Assembly's defence committee on Tuesday there would have to come a point when South Africans stopped being black, white, Indian and Coloured and were merely South Africans.

"When will we cease to be Africans, coloureds, Indians and whites and merely South Africans? This is the question we must ask ourselves," he said.

Dirk Hermann of the Solidarity trade union welcomed the sentiment, saying neither Lekota nor the union was claiming there was no place for affirmative action.

But the time was ripe to ask whether racial quotas to achieve representivity targets were the best way to go about it.

Hermann said they were keen to take up the minister's challenge to debate the matter.

"We'd like to be involved in arranging a national indaba on affirmative action where all points of view can be placed on table. Currently only representivity is being pursued, which is leading to new forms of imbalance and discrimination. If we are honest, we must stop any new imbalances," Hermann said.

"We say the result of affirmative action must be to wipe out poverty and unemployment and to rectify racial imbalances. The way to do this is input based affirmative action through training and development. This must result in economic growth," he said.

Freedom Front Plus defence spokesman Pieter Groenewald said Lekota's view were similar to their own.

"Somewhere there has to be a cut-off," he told Sapa, "and we're glad Lekota agrees."

Groenewald said the SA National Defence Force had been at the forefront of affirmative action in the public service and Lekota's quotas were about filled.

However, he had problems attracting young whites to the defence force as many felt promotion opportunities were limited.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesman Rafeek Shah also welcomed "Lekota's recognition of the pitfalls of pursuing racial quotas in the SANDF".

"It is certainly refreshing to have such honest and forthright realism expressed by a minister on this matter. We hope that the sentiments expressed by Minister Lekota during his briefing to Parliament's ad hoc committee on defence .. will filter through to his colleagues in the cabinet," he said in a statement afterwards.

Shah said the DA had raised the issue last year when the inspector-general's report of August 2002 explicitly called for an end to the promotion of white officers of certain ranks. To prevent them leaving the SANDF, they were to be given higher pay than African officers.

The report also recommended that Africans be excluded from entry-level positions, because whites were underrepresented in the lower ranks.

"This is a case of affirmative action being perverted," Shah said. "The obsession with demographic representivity, intended to benefit African soldiers, ends up denying them opportunities."

"No one should be excluded from joining the SANDF or being promoted on the basis of race. (Rather) additional support and training should be provided to people previously excluded to ensure that they are able to seize the opportunities available within the SANDF."

Lekota told MPS that last year two white pilots flew him to an inter-continental defence meeting.

"When I arrived there I was asked where are the people of your country, why are you still being flown by these whites. It was not a question I was expecting.

"I thought about it and I told them that unlike in their country there are more than 10-million people of pure European stock in our country. They are South African, not settlers from Europe."

He said more and more the question of representativity was raising this issue of identity.

"We are going to have to look at this and say there are no

Indians here, Indians are in India... they are South African. And these people called coloureds where are they from... they are probably more South African than anybody. It is becoming very difficult this mathematics," he said.    It was not always easy to adhere to the "mathematical requirement" set out by Parliament on how the race groups should be  represented in the SANDF.    Steven Friedman of the Centre for Policy Studies said redress was a core ANC policy.    "How to do it is a different question altogether," he added, "    

but Lekota is not breaking new ground here. He is not a maverick.. many out there enthusiastic about affirmative action redress feel quotas are not the way to go," Friedman said.

Asked where Lekota's views came from, Friedman said one could argue he had a genuine administrative headache.

"He has targets to meet but can't find the folks to make it," Friedman said.

Another interpretation was that he had reservations about the idea of quotas.

Friedman said Lekota, the ANC's national chairman, was not part of President Thabo Mbeki's inner circle but he was elected to his position by a two-thirds margin of delegates at the party's 1997 conference. He was therefore not someone Mbeki could afford to ignore.

Left-wing academic and Anti-Privatisation Forum spokesman Dale McKinley said the debate was somewhat misplaced.

"Drawing a line won't make a difference to the majority of people who remain outside the mainstream economy. For that, structural changes are needed to the economy."

McKinley said affirmative action in the US only managed to create a small black middle class after 30 years. It had completely by-passed the poor.

"Affirmative action policies are only beneficial to those with skills. The majority of South Africa's poor have no skills and no way of getting into the middle class," he said.

He added that Lekota's comments were consistent with the ANC's black economic empowerment thrust that was seeing the creation of a black middle class for the country but no serious effort to end social exclusion or poverty.

Defence minister says 'racial representivity' will be relegated to the past

A time would have to come in the near future when "representivity" according to race would be scrapped and all the people of SA were simply South Africans regardless of their origins, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said yesterday.

This should boost the opposition parties' views, notably the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Freedom Front Plus.

Both parties have long argued that the implementation of affirmative action in pursuit of socalled "representivity" should be phased out over a specific period of time. This view was prominent in their recent election strategies.

Lekota's statement is also the first indication that some within the ruling African National Congress share this view.

Addressing Parliament's defence committee on budget matters yesterday, Lekota said representivity posed a number of serious and difficult challenges.

He said there were theoretical targets for the different race groups, and then asked: "When do we cease to be black, white, Indian and coloured but are simply all South Africans?"

Lekota said: "There are more people of European origin in SA than in any other country in Africa, about 10-million, and they must work and be accommodated in the country of their birth."

The minister said the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) was finding it difficult to attract white South Africans .

"I cannot pass a law to compel whites to join the defence force," said Lekota, who pointed out that this related not only to the defence force but also to the country as a whole.

In response to a question from the DA's MP Hendrik Schmidt, Lekota said he did not have specific time frames in mind or particular targets, but was "opening the debate on the matter".

After the meeting DA defence spokesman Rafeek Shah welcomed "Lekota's recognition of the pitfalls of pursuing racial quotas in the SANDF".

"It is certainly refreshing to have such honest and forthright realism expressed by a minister on this matter. We hope that the sentiments expressed by Minister Lekota during his briefing to Parliament's ad hoc committee on defence today will filter through to his colleagues in the cabinet."

Shah said the DA had raised the issue last year when the inspector-general's report of August 2002 explicitly called for an end to the promotion of white officers of certain ranks. To prevent them leaving the SANDF, they were to be given higher pay than African officers.

The report also recommended that Africans be excluded from entry-level positions, because whites were underrepresented in the lower ranks.

"This is a case of affirmative action being perverted," Shah said. "The obsession with demographic representivity, intended to benefit African soldiers, ends up denying them opportunities."

"No one should be excluded from joining the SANDF or being promoted on the basis of race.

"(Rather) additional support and training should be provided to people previously excluded to ensure that they are able to seize the opportunities available within the SANDF."

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says debate is needed to examine the issue of representivity in the defence force.

The minister today briefed the National Assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on Defence on a wide range of issues.

Minister Lekota said the "mathematics" was becoming increasingly difficult in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

"Representivity has to do also with the social reality of the distribution of wealth and the location of people in the country," he explained.

Minister Lekota said the SANDF no longer attracted young white recruits, although it had to adhere to a prescribed quota.

"At some point we will have to reflect on when South Africans will be treated as just South Africans," he said.

The minister said although transformation was a "difficult" process his department would continue with it.

Minister Lekota said his deputy; Mluleki George would be requested to look into the issue of transformation in the defence force.

SANDF Chief Siphiwe Nyanda told Members of the Committee that the current force was united and well disciplined.

"This has been achieved through great difficulty, they (the troops) have come together to add value," said General Nyanda.

He said discipline among the South African soldiers was reason for success in places like Burundi where some troops had been deployed to bring peace there.

"We are doing important work for South Africa, for the nation as a whole," General Nyanda told the Committee.

Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma is attending a ceremony in Burundi to mark the official transfer of the Peacekeeping mandate in Burundi from the African Union (AU) to the United Nations (UN).

Burundian President Domitien Ndayizeye is also attending the event.

The AU mandated the deployment of the African Mission in Burundi (AMIB) in April last year for an initial period of one year.

"The mandate was extended for an additional two months, to allow the United Nations the opportunity to arrange for the establishment of a UN Peace Mission," explained foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa.

Last month, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted resolution 1545 (2004) to create a United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) as from today.

UN Deputy Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Carolyn McAskie of Canada has been appointed as Secretary General Kofi Annan's Special Representative and chief of mission.

Mr Mamoepa said Major-General D Mgwebi of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), who commanded AMIB has been identified as ONUB's force commander.

He becomes the first ever South African to be appointed as a force commander of a United Nations Peace Mission.

ONUB will have a mandated troop composition of 5 650, including 200 observers, 125 staff officers and 120 civilian police.

Countries that have indicated their willingness to contribute troops are South Africa, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Pakistan and Nepal.

Mr Mamoepa said ONUB would operate under a Chapter VII mandate and troops would be deployed for a period of six months as from today, "with the intention to renew the mandate for further periods".

The mandate, he said, would be multi-dimensional in line with the recommendations of the Secretary General.

"ONUB is tasked with a variety of issues, including disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), electoral assistance (which should take place before 31 October), facilitation of the voluntary return of refugees and internally displaced persons," he said.

There will have to come a point when South Africans stop being black, white, Indian and coloured and are merely South Africans, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Tuesday [1 June].

"When will we cease to be Africans, coloureds, Indians and whites and merely South Africans? This is the question we must ask ourselves," said Lekota while briefing the parliament's portfolio committee on defence.

He said last year two white pilots flew him to an inter-continental defence meeting. "When I arrived there I was asked where are the people of your country, why are you still being flown by these whites. It was not a question I was expecting."

"I thought about it and I told them that unlike in their country there are more than 10m people of pure European stock in our country. They are South African, not settlers from Europe." He said more and more the question of representativity was raising this issue of identity. "We are going to have to look at this and say there are no Indians here, Indians are in India... They are South African. And these people called coloureds where are they from... [both ellipsis as published] they are probably more South African than anybody. It is becoming very difficult, this mathematics," he said.

It was not always easy to adhere to the "mathematical requirement" set out by parliament on how the race groups should be represented in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), he said. It was difficult to attract young white people into the defence force when there where better opportunities for them in the business world. "Africans do not have these opportunities so they come to the defence force. I still have to meet the percentage quota of whites but what can I do? I cannot pass a law, I cannot compel them to join the defence force."

He said this was not an issue related only to the SANDF but it was relevant to the entire nation.

"We have to reflect on when all South Africans will be considered as South African. When we nominate a soccer team to play in Brazil it should be the best players not because one is light skinned or dark skinned. It's a difficult thing transformation."

"I have to open this debate. How long can we go on with this thing. Some time in the future this is a question that our nation will have to face."