Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The SA National Defence Union (Sandu) demanded wage equality for soldiers, sailors and airmen in its annual wage salaries and allowances proposals put before the Military Bargaining Council (MBC) on Monday.

SA National Defence Force staff are excluded from much of the country's labour legislation and in terms of the 2002 Defence Act must bargain for salary and allowance adjustments in the MBC rather than in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.

The union's Pikkie Greeff said many of the SANDF's policies informing salaries and allowances were archaic and unjustifiable.

SANDF staff doing the same duties as police officers of equal rank were also not paid the same rate.

"Sandu demands the closing of the wage gap between Defence Act personnel and members of the SAPS backdated to April 1. Members of the SAPS, especially in the lower rank groups, on average are paid 7.5 percent to five percent more than their SANDF counterparts.

Greeff said SANDF privates were paid less than police constables, apparently because constables were paid the equivalent of corporals.

"Yet at roadblocks police officers and soldiers do exactly the same tasks. Corporals, on the other hand, have managerial responsibilities. Constables have none. They obey orders, they don't give them."

Sandu was also demanding an 9.5 percent across the board increase for Defence Act personnel.

Other demands covered pensions, leave, housing and allowances such as "danger pay" and overtime.

Meanwhile, public service labour unions are demanding an 8.5 percent increase, with the government offering 5.5 percent in the PSCBC.

The 8.5 percent was derived from a CPIX (Consumer Price Index minus mortgage bonds) figure of 5.5 percent plus an additional 3.1 percent to achieve "a real wage increase."

The phasing out of commandos in rural areas was being hampered by a lack of consultation, a defence and security expert said on Tuesday.

Len le Roux of the Institute for Security Studies said he was not aware of any consultation with relevant stakeholders despite a recommendation to that effect by experts.

"We drew up a report recommending that the SA National Defence Force and the SA Police Service should involve as many stakeholders and interest groups as possible within the various working groups of the task team overseeing the implementation of the phasing out of the Commando system," Le Roux said.

"As far as I know, no consultation has yet taken place."

Other than the rural safety and security element, commandos also played a vital role during war, and during times of emergency and natural disasters.

"They are there and can be mobilised in a relatively short time to assist in emergency relief work," Le Roux said.

He also questioned the ability of the police to deal with certain types of crime which were executed with almost military precision, like cash-in-transit heists.

"The question is whether the police are up to handling these types of crime. These crimes are committed with such precision that you need a military response and the commandos were involved in that."

He said it was imperative that rural and local communities have an input into the phasing out of the commandos. No plan had been put forward so-far as to what would replace commandos with regard to fighting crime in rural areas.

Spokesman for the Defence Ministry, Sam Mkhwanazi, said it was not necessary to consult farmers and farmers' unions because no vacuum would be left regarding rural safety and security.

"There won't be a vacuum," he said. "We take the safety of farmers and everybody else in the country seriously."

Mkhwanazi said the commandos were being phased out because the "military can't do the work of the police. In terms of the Constitution it is the police's work to fight crime".

He added that the SANDF would still assist the police with fighting crime "if and when requested".

Spokeswoman for National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, Sally de Beer said the police were still busy drawing up a plan of how commandos would be replaced.

She said as soon as this plan had been presented to the relevant structures within government, the police would roll out a communication strategy to inform the public. She added, however, that it would not be too soon.

"The phasing out stretches over six years. Everything will be in place by the end of March 2009."

Le Roux said if no consultation took place in the initial stages, he looked forward to the time when parliament would invite the public to comment on the suggested plans to replace the commandos.

Mainland China has donated 100 computers and 100 laser printers for training SA National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel as part of an agreement signed between the countries.

The South African government says defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota signed a letter of offer and acceptance with the People's Republic of China Central Military Committee's second vice-chairman general Guo Boxiong.

Lekota said the donation marked another milestone in developing and strengthening close and friendly bilateral relations between the countries.

"The People's Republic of China played a crucial role in ensuring that our struggle against apartheid succeeded and that we attain our freedom."

He said relations between China and SA were growing from strength to strength, after diplomatic relations were established in 1998. The two countries cooperated on a broad range of issues and had agreements in the fields of police cooperation, trade, economic, science and technology, he said.

SA is China's largest African trading partner with trade volume doubling from R9.3 billion in 1990 to R18.3 billion in 2002.

South Africa will commemorate the Battle of Delville Wood in France this weekend, in remembrance of her soldiers who died there during the two world wars.

Two defence senior officials Major General Dan Mofokeng and Chief of Reserves Major General Roy Anderson will leave the country tomorrow, to attend the annual Delville Wood Remembrance Day on 19 July.

According to the defence force, a large number of black and white soldiers died there on 16 July 1916 when they were ordered to hold Delville Wood to protect it.

The Brigade consisting of 3 200 men, entered the wood, which was surrounded by the enemy on three sides.

After suffering utter devastation for six days, they were withdrawn from the wood having spent all of their ammunition in trying to hold it and a mere 750 of them survived.

The officials will then attend a wreath laying ceremony at the cemeteries of Longueval, Delville Wood and Arques la Bataille on 20 July.

Despite the distance, Delville became the South African National War Memorial site and an altar stone was unveiled on 5 June 1952 to commemorate those soldiers.

The museum, whose responsibility lies with the Department of Defence, was opened on 11 November 1986.

"In this tenth year of our democracy and freedom, it is fitting that we remember and acknowledge the contribution and sacrifice made by thousands of black and white South Africans in the cause of world freedom many years ago," said General Mofokeng.

Eight members of the SA National Defence Force left for Sudan on Wednesday as part of a one-year peace keeping mission in the region, the defence ministry said in Pretoria.

"The main task of the SANDF will be to assist the African Union with initial negotiations between Sudanese government forces and the belligerent groups in order to eventually advance peace in the region," Defence spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi said in a statement.

He said the volunteers included a section commander, deputy section commander, two team leaders, two deputy team leaders, a staff officer operations and a communications/information technology technician.

He said the team left for Addis Ababa on Wednesday from where they would move on to Darfur and specific destinations in the area of operation.

More than 10,000 people were estimated to have died in Darfur and at least 1.2 million had been driven from their homes, many of them to squalid camps in Chad, since a revolt against the Arab-dominated government erupted among indigenous ethnic minorities in February 2003.

In retaliation, the pro-government Arab Janjaweed militias have carried out what UN officials say is a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against black Africans.

The European Union on Monday threatened sanctions against Sudan if it failed to end the crisis.

On Tuesday two US senators introduced legislation that would condemn the crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan as "genocide."

"The atrocities that are continuing today in Darfur are unconscionable, and this is why the US Congress must take immediate and decisive action," said senator Sam Brownback.

He said that unlike Rwanda, where genocide was determined only after 800,000 died; "here is a chance for the international community to step in and stop the deaths."

The police service must not become a dumping ground for SANDF members who have passed their sell-by date, the Democratic Alliance's Roy Jankielsohn said on Sunday.

The first 55 members of the SANDF had passed their three-month bridging training for the SAPS in Pretoria. It was expected that a further 3600 would be trained soon.

"This is part of the SANDF's plan to downsize and rejuvenate the force," Jankielsohn said.

"Unfortunately it is the SAPS that is inheriting the problem of aging personnel from the SANDF. The SANDF is hopingto save money on severance packages by transferring members to the SAPS. The transferred members also keep their ranks.

"The already top-heavy SAPS requires young recruits to rejuvenate itself not old soldiers."

Furthermore the SANDF troops brought with them an ingrained military culture which was not the same as, or good for a police force.

"While the SANDF will benefit greatly from this transfer, it will not assist the SAPS in the long run since they will have to pay for the ranks and will have to deal with pensions and health problems that accompany the aging SANDF troops," said Jankielsohn.

Sixty-five members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) who were declared excess staff were today issued with certificates qualifying them as members of the South African Police Service (SAPS).

The 65 soldiers turned police, successfully underwent a 12-week training course, offered by the SAPS to qualify them to join the police service.

They are part of more than 3 600 excess personnel identified within the SANDF and the integration is set to be complete within two years.

The SANDF and SAPS were jointly involved in the design of the conversion course allowing the former soldiers to be integrated into the police service as part of government's ongoing restructuring process for effective service delivery.

The Ministerial Security Committee advised the SANDF in 2000 to redeploy some of its excess staff to the SAPS Protection and Security Division.

Speaking at the handing over of certificates ceremony, Chief Joint Support Division Brigadier General Douglas Myamya said he hoped that the personnel would contribute in the fight against crime.

"We hope they will prove their ability in the SAPS," said Brigadier General Myamya.

SAPS Head of Operational Support, Protection and Security Services Commissioner Ryno Naidoo said the new members would assist a lot in dealing with the challenges that the SAPS faced especially because "the country needs sound domestic security and protection."

The new members will be deployed in various units within the SAPS and the second batch made of 90 personnel are expected to start training in September this year.

American and South African soldiers are to take part in a joint exercise in Limpopo this month focused on providing assistance during a humanitarian crisis, the SA National Defence Force said on Thursday.

The exercise would involve a simulated flood, and take place from Saturday until July 19, it said in a statement.

Dubbed Exercise Medflag, it would involve more than 350 South African soldiers and about 210 from the United States defence force's European Command -- which is based in Germany and is responsible for the European and African command region.

It would see a joint task force formed and deployed to a "crisis" area for a mass casualty exercise.

The SANDF said Medflag would enhance the crisis response capabilities of the two forces and promote long-term military relations between the two countries.

A number of activities would take place during the exercise, with assistance from the Limpopo health department, to benefit local communities.

This would include the provision of general medical, dental and paediatric care at local clinics, the statement said.