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A legal battle looms between the army and four South Africans who claim they have been shut out of the military because they tested HIV- positive.

It comes at a time when the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) has embarked on collaborative research with the Department of Defence on the effect of the pandemic on the battle preparedness of the national military.

The AIDS Law Project (ALP), a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), is acting on behalf of three South Africans living with HIV who applied for jobs in the army. They were rejected from service because of their status.

Two of these are combatants who fulfilled all other requirements for the job, including passing fitness and psychological testing. They were accepted into the physically demanding course, but then dismissed when their medical report came through.

Their other client is a woman who applied to be a chaplain in the defence forces. The ALP claims that the SANDF's rejection of these recruits is discriminatory, and violates the constitutional provisions to equity.

The court action will challenge the South African military on whether human rights or human resources are its priority. This is a question with which defence forces are grappling across Southern Africa.

Liesl Gerntholtz, an advocate working for the AIDS Law Project, says the army has a de facto policy which requires mandatory testing of new recruits, and excludes those who test positive. She believes this undermines their human rights.

"What I can say is that we have received complaints from clients that they have been tested pre-employment routinely. We have documents from the South African Medical Health Services of the SANDF that indicates that the protocol that deals with HIV testing says explicitly that if you are sero-positive then you are automatically considered to be medically unfit for employment in the SANDF," she says.

Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesperson for the South African Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota, says all new recruits are obliged to submit to a comprehensive health assessment. If they fail it, for whatever medical reason, they are not admitted. However he denies that this is tantamount to discrimination.

"We look at eyes, teeth, high blood pressure, for all ailments including HIV/AIDS. The media want to give a person suffering from HIV more weight than a person suffering from high blood pressure. The bottom line is that the uniformed member must be 100 percent healthy," he says.

Gerntholtz believes that the extent of the recruit's illness should be the consideration, not whether or not they are HIV-positive. She says not enough research has been done on the effect of HIV on combat preparedness to justify instant rejection from the forces.

"It's a blanket exclusion; they don't consider your actual state of health. There is no CD blood count, there is nothing that indicates where you are in terms of disease progression," she says. The AIDS Law Project has written a letter to the Ministry of Defence asking for clarity on their policy, in light of discussions they say are taking place on this issue in the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). SANAC was unavailable for comment.

The AIDS Law Project perspective is controversial among some military commentators who fear the cost of a physically weakened defence force, both financially and its effect on regional stability. The Deputy Director of the South Africa Military Academy at the University of Stellenbosch, Lindy Heinecken, says she understands the SANDF's dilemma from a human resources perspective.

"The SANDF is falling apart as there are not enough financial resources. The only way to create leadership in the military is for the recruits to progress through the ranks otherwise there is anarchy and poor leadership. It is hard then to see that investment in training falling away because of HIV/AIDS," she says.

Heinecken argues that HIV/AIDS has the potential to compromise security in the southern Africa region, and the handling of the pandemic in the military is of "utmost importance for national security".

In a research paper on the effect of HIV/AIDS on the military, she writes of the forces: "When they themselves become enfeebled by HIV/AIDS, the state's ability to stabilise, defend or protect their citizens weakens. Nowhere is this more evident than in the armed forces of Southern Africa where infection rates could be as high as 80 percent."

"We are dealing with a situation that must be dealt with as a human resources challenge and not a medical one. Because the security organ has a specific mandate that it has to fulfill, the people employed must have a competency that should be viewed in terms of their physical capacity to do the job," says Colonel Andre Loubser from the Centre for International Political Studies, a military commentator.

In a research paper on HIV/AIDS and the military, Loubser says he believes that HIV-positive SANDF members should not be promoted to higher positions as that would not ensure continuity in command, control and leadership.

The 13-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) is currently debating a protocol which provides policy guidelines on the handling of the pandemic in military forces. However, the guidelines have not yet been finalised or accepted by SADC members, according to the SADC's technical advisor on HIV/AIDS, Dr Antonica Hembe.

Heinecken quotes 1999 HIV/AIDS prevalence figures in the SADC forces in her research. Her statistics put the prevalence rate in the military in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi at 50 percent, Botswana at 33 percent, Lesotho at 40 percent, Swaziland at 48 percent and Zambia at 60 percent. Zimbabwe has reportedly a 55-percent prevalence rate in its armed forces, and Namibia 16 percent. South Africa stood at 21 percent in 2000, and is now at 23 percent. Attempts to get more up to date figures from member states have failed.

The SANDF is still responding to reports earlier this year that 89 percent of a group of its members, who volunteered for testing, tested HIV-positive. Mkhwanazi say this figure distorts the true picture of HIV prevalence as it was taken from volunteers who elected to be tested as part of the SANDF's relatively new clinical research programme, Project PHIDISA.

Through the project, the volunteers would be given access to life-prolonging free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Media reports from a conference where this research was discussed suggested that the SANDF was losing 400,000 working days a year due to the disease.

"No data is available that would support any estimate of the number of days lost due to HIV disease. Any figures that are used are therefore purely speculative. The PHIDISA project hopes to provide answers to some question in this regard, but to date no information is available," said Major N.A. Allie from the SANDF in response to questions on those figures. Defence Minister, Lekota is on record as saying that there is no crisis within the SANDF as a result of HIV/AIDS.

PHIDISA was launched late last year as a collaborative programme with the U.S. Department of Defence to combat AIDS in the military, along with the existing awareness programme, MASIBAMBISANE.

The research will evaluate the effects of the HIV epidemic on the SANDF and measure the impact of anti-retroviral therapy, in particular, and assess the efficacy of preventative measures in the military. It will also provide a basis on which to research the impact of HIV on the military preparedness of the SANDF, according to Lekota. It is being rolled out in six bases across South Africa, to date. Little details are available at this stage.

The SANDF says that 350 members have enrolled for PHIDISA to date. This group has had access to anti-retroviral therapy since January this year. This is the extent of the anti-retroviral treatment provided by the SANDF to its members.

Mkhwanazi said all SANDF members dispatched for peace-keeping were also required to submit to a comprehensive health assessment. Those who tested HIV positive would be excluded from peace-keeping duty in other countries. However, despite reports to the contrary, the United Nations does not require mandatory testing for HIV and will not necessarily exclude HIV-positive personnel from serving in a mission because of their status.

"The sole medical criterion for the deployment and retention of a peacekeeper is fitness to perform peacekeeping duties during the term of deployment. In accordance with current medical and human rights guidelines, the HIV status of an individual is not in itself considered an indication of fitness for deployment in a peacekeeping mission," says the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The UN, however, requires all military forces to offer voluntary testing and counseling to peace-keepers before they depart on their mission. It also requires all potential peace-keepers to be assessed to see whether they are fit for the service required. If they are not, for example, if they are showing symptoms of full-blown AIDS, then they would be excluded from serving in the mission.

Many peace-keepers are posted to comparatively under-resourced areas where there is little medical support should peace-keepers fall ill.

A legal battle looms between the army and four South Africans who claim they have been shut out of the military because they tested HIV positive.

It comes at a time when the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) has embarked on collaborative research with the U.S. Department of Defence on the effect of the pandemic on the battle preparedness of the South African military.

The AIDS Law Project (ALP), a local non-governmental organisation (NGO), is acting on behalf of three South Africans living with HIV who applied for jobs in the army. They were rejected from service because of their positive status.

Two of these are combatants who fulfilled all other requirements for the job, including passing fitness and psychometric testing. They were accepted into the physically demanding course, but then dismissed when their medical report came through.

Their other client is a woman who applied to be a chaplain in the defence forces. The ALP claims that the SANDF's rejection of these recruits is discriminatory, and violates the constitutional provisions to equity.

The court action will challenge the South African military on whether human rights or human resources are its priority. This is a question with which defence forces are grappling across Southern Africa.

Liesl Gerntholtz, an advocate working for the AIDS Law Project, says the army has a de facto policy which requires mandatory testing of new recruits, and excludes those who test positive. She believes this undermines their human rights.

"What I can say is that we have received complaints from clients that they have been tested pre-employment routinely. We have documents from the South African Medical Health Services of the SANDF that indicates that the protocol that deals with HIV testing says explicitly that if you are sero-positive then you are automatically considered to be medically unfit for employment in the SANDF," she says.

Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesperson for the South African Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota, says all new recruits are obliged to submit to a comprehensive health assessment. If they fail it, for whatever medical reason, they are not admitted. However he denies that this is tantamount to discrimination.

"We look at eyes, teeth, high blood pressure, for all ailments including HIV/AIDS. The media want to give a person suffering from HIV more weight than a person suffering from high blood pressure. The bottom line is that the uniformed member must be 100 percent healthy," he says.

Gerntholtz believes that the extent of the recruit's illness should be the consideration, not whether or not they are HIV positive. She says not enough research has been done on the effect of HIV on combat preparedness to justify instant rejection from the forces.

"It's a blanket exclusion; they don't consider your actual state of health. There is no CD (blood) count, there is nothing that indicates where you are in terms of disease progression," she says. The AIDS Law Project has written a letter to the Ministry of Defence asking for clarity on their policy, in light of discussions they say are taking place on this issue in the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). SANAC was unavailable for comment.

The AIDS Law Project perspective is controversial among some military commentators who fear the cost of a physically weakened defence force, both financially and its effect on regional stability. The Deputy Director of the South Africa Military Academy at the University of Stellenbosch, Lindy Heinecken, says she understands the SANDF's dilemma from a human resources perspective.

"The SANDF is falling apart as there are not enough financial resources. The only way to create leadership in the military is for the recruits to progress through the ranks otherwise there is anarchy and poor leadership. It is hard then to see that investment in training falling away because of HIV/AIDS," she says.

Heinecken argues that HIV/AIDS has the potential to compromise security in the Southern Africa region, and the handling of the pandemic in the military is of "utmost importance for national security".

In a research paper on the effect of HIV/AIDS on the military, she writes of the forces: "When they themselves become enfeebled by HIV/AIDS, the state's ability to stabilise, defend or protect their citizens weakens. Nowhere is this more evident than in the armed forces of Southern Africa where infection rates could be as high as 80 percent."

"We are dealing with a situation that must be dealt with as a human resources challenge and not a medical one. Because the security organ has a specific mandate that it has to fulfill, the people employed must have a competency that should be viewed in terms of their physical capacity to do the job," says Colonel Andre Loubser from the Centre for International Political Studies, a military commentator.

In a research paper on HIV/AIDS and the military, Loubser says he believes that HIV positive SANDF members should not be promoted to higher positions as that would not ensure continuity in command, control and leadership.

The 13-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) is currently debating a protocol which provides policy guidelines on the handling of the pandemic in military forces. However, the guidelines have not yet been finalised or accepted by SADC members, according to the SADC's technical advisor on HIV/AIDS, Dr Antonica Hembe.

Heinecken quotes 1999 HIV/AIDS prevalence figures in the SADC forces in her research. Her statistics put the prevalence rate in the military in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi at 50 percent, Botswana at 33 percent, Lesotho at 40 percent, Swaziland at 48 percent and Zambia at 60 percent. Zimbabwe has reportedly a 55-percent prevalence rate in its armed forces, and Namibia 16 percent. South Africa stood at 21 percent in 2000, and is now at 23 percent. Attempts to get more up to date figures from member states have failed.

The SANDF is still responding to reports earlier this year that 89 percent of a group of its members, who volunteered for testing, tested HIV positive. Mkhwanazi say this figure distorts the true picture of HIV prevalence as it was taken from volunteers who elected to be tested as part of the SANDF's relatively new clinical research programme, Project PHIDISA.

Through the project, the volunteers would be given access to life-prolonging free anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Media reports from a conference where this research was discussed suggested that the SANDF was losing 400,000 working days a year due to the disease.

"No data is available that would support any estimate of the number of days lost due to HIV disease. Any figures that are used are therefore purely speculative. The PHIDISA project hopes to provide answers to some question in this regard, but to date no information is available," said Major N.A. Allie from the SANDF in response to questions on those figures. Defence Minister, Lekota is on record as saying that there is no crisis within the SANDF as a result of HIV/AIDS.

PHIDISA was launched late last year as a collaborative programme with the U.S. Department of Defence to combat AIDS in the military, along with the existing awareness programme, MASIBAMBISANE.

The research will evaluate the effects of the HIV epidemic on the SANDF and measure the impact of anti-retroviral therapy, in particular, and assess the efficacy of preventative measures in the military. It will also provide a basis on which to research the impact of HIV on the military preparedness of the SANDF, according to Lekota. It is being rolled out in six bases across South Africa, to date. Little details are available at this stage.

The SANDF says that 350 members have enrolled for PHIDISA to date. This group has had access to anti-retroviral therapy since January this year. This is the extent of the anti-retroviral treatment provided by the SANDF to its members.

Mkhwanazi said all SANDF members dispatched for peace-keeping were also required to submit to a comprehensive health assessment. Those who tested HIV positive would be excluded from peace-keeping duty in other countries. However, despite reports to the contrary, the United Nations does not require mandatory testing for HIV and will not necessarily exclude HIV-positive personnel from serving in a mission because of their status.

"The sole medical criterion for the deployment and retention of a peacekeeper is fitness to perform peacekeeping duties during the term of deployment. In accordance with current medical and human rights guidelines, the HIV status of an individual is not in itself considered an indication of fitness for deployment in a peacekeeping mission," says the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

The UN, however, requires all military forces to offer voluntary testing and counseling to peace-keepers before they depart on their mission. It also requires all potential peace-keepers to be assessed to see whether they are fit for the service required. If they are not, for example if they are showing symptoms of full-blown AIDS, then they would be excluded from serving in the mission.

Many peace-keepers are posted to comparatively under-resourced areas where there is little medical support should peace-keepers fall ill.

The Department of Home Affairs says yet another marriage fraud syndicate has been smashed, this time in Limpopo's northern most town of Musina.

Assisted by the South African Police Service (SAPS) and South African National Defence Force (SANDF), 15 people, including Pakistani, Bangledeshi and Zimbabwean citizens, were arrested during a raid of a number of shops and homes in the town.

"Initial investigations pointed to a thriving trade in fraudulent identity documents, passports and marriage certificates, as well as the alleged bribing of a few immigration officials," Home Affairs spokesperson Lesley Mashokwe told BuaNews in Polokwane yesterday.

He said a task team from the department recently decided to switch their attention to Limpopo, after receiving a tip-off regarding alleged irregularities.

Explaining the methods used by the fraudsters, Mr Mashokwe pointed out that unsuspecting South African women and teenage girls were often trapped into relationships with smooth-talking strangers, and later found they were "married" to these men.

In many cases, documents issued by marriage officers could be produced to prove the validity of such marriages.

He added that criminals had effectively exploited the fact that thousands of marriages in the so-called homelands of the apartheid era were never properly registered or captured on data systems.

In many cases, documents issued by marriage officers could be produced to prove the validity of the present wave of fraudulent marriages. Amounts of up to R3 000 were being paid to arrange such marriages.

"Some marriages are registered in Zimbabwe and such couples even pass the scrutiny of border post officials, because their travel and marriage documents appear to be in order," Mr Mashokwe said.

According to a statement issued by the department, 431 fraudulent marriages had already been exposed, since the launch of the current "Check your marital status" campaign. So far, 6 169 women had approached the department to verify their marital status.

A senior Home Affairs investigator in Limpopo said a certain Pakistani citizen known as Yussuf Ali registered business enterprises in the province in his wife's name, yet the young woman concerned never even knew she was married to him, Mashokwe added.

Ali and several others would be summarily deported, in terms of legislation in South Africa prohibiting anyone found in possession of false identity and other documents from ever entering the country again.

The department has discovered that many marriages under apartheid homelands were never properly registered or captured on data systems. 'We hope these facts will serve as a wake-up call to all citizens to check the documented status of their marriages with the department," Mr Mashokwe said.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) says it will continue to root out wrongdoers within its ranks irrespective of levels where such deviants may be operating.

The warning follows last week's arrest of five SANDF members in Madimbo, Limpopo, for various offences ranging from bribery to corruption which military authorities have said indicated that the force was intolerant to ill discipline and misconduct.

It also alleged that the five officers robbed people and stole luggage from unsuspecting people entering or leaving through the border.

"I wish to place firmly on record that the SANDF has not and will not tolerate, condone, justify or conceal illegal or irregular actions of its members," said defence spokesperson Dan Mofekeng.

"Our members are not above the law and therefore when they are proven guilty of transgressing the laws of our country, or the military conduct and disciplinary codes, they will be dealt with severely," General Mofekeng said.

An estimated 23 percent of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers are HIV-positive, SANDF Health Service Director Pieter Oelofse has announced.

However, HIV infection was seen by Oelofse as a less prevalent or serious threat to the combat readiness of the defence force's 75,000 soldiers than obesity and hearing loss.

According to a local newspaper, Sunday Times, the HIV prevalence estimate was based on health assessment tests of soldiers deployed on various missions.

Some 17 percent tested HIV-positive during preparation for a 1999 deployment, and a similar percentage tested HIV-positive during routine health assessments in March 2000.

The recent arrest of five soldiers in Limpopo for allegedly robbing illegal Zimbabwean immigrants, was a "glowing example" of attempts to root out corruption, the SA National Defence Force said on Friday.

SANDF chief General Siphiwe Nyanda expressed concern that an impression may have been created that the defence force had distanced itself from the allegations.

In fact, the arrest of the five was the result of a joint investigation by the Military Police Academy (MPA) and the SA Police Service, he said.

The MPA, under Nyanda's instruction, was actively pursuing wrongdoers in the SANDF, a statement said.

"I wish to reiterate that in this specific case, the law will take its course and the full weight of the law will be brought to bear on those found guilty," Nyanda said.

He stressed that the SANDF would never tolerate, condone, justify or conceal any illegal or irregular actions of its members.

"Our members are not above the law and therefore when they are proven guilty of transgressing the laws of our country, or the military disciplinary code, or the code of conduct, they will be dealt with very severely."

The five were reportedly arrested for allegedly robbing Zimbabweans illegally entering the country and raping women along the border with Limpopo.

Detectives allegedly confiscated bicycles, cigarettes and blankets found in a store room at the Madimbo military base.

At the time, police said the search would continue for diamonds, gold and platinum also alleged to have been taken from Zimbabweans. More arrests were expected.

SANDF spokesman Major Nico Allie said the five men appeared in the Masisi Magistrate's Court on Wednesday charged with the possession of stolen property.

The men's names or their next court date could not be determined.

HIV has infected one in four soldiers in South Africa's Armed Forces, severely restricting the country's capacity to deploy troops in the region.

General Pieter Oelofse, the head of medicine at the South African Defence Force (SANDF), told parliament that 23 per cent of soldiers were estimated to have contracted the virus. "Our deployable force is shrinking due to medical reasons," he said.

The statistics were produced by mandatory Aids testing of troops sent on UN peacekeeping missions, which are off limits to infected soldiers. About 3,000 of the country's 70,000 troops are stationed in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Aids specialists fear a higher, 40 per cent infection rate among soldiers. The SANDF has sought to play down concerns about a lack of combat readiness due to Aids. General Oelofse claimed that hearing loss and obesity were a more common reason than Aids for soldiers not meeting the criteria for peacekeeping missions.

Yet the cost of treatment and man-days lost to Aids is likely to increase sharply over the next few years. In 1996, 40 per cent of military deaths were due to medical reasons. Today that figure is 70 per cent. Soldiers showing symptoms of Aids would on average lose 45 working days a year, while a patient with full blown Aids would have a minimum of 120 days off a year, the Armed Forces say.

Infected soldiers and their families have been entitled to free anti retroviral drugs since February, although the programme has not yet been fully rolled out.

Soldiers who become too ill to continue working will remain on the defence force's health plan.

South African troops cannot be tested for Aids without their permission unless they are to be deployed abroad. The SANDF is encouraging voluntary testing. It hopes to test 50,000 personnel over the next five years.

General Oelofse said that the SANDF had drawn up plans to recruit younger and healthier troops.

The infection rate for the Armed Forces is slightly higher than that in the community as a whole, where 20 per cent of those between the ages of 15 and 49 are HIV positive.

Defence Minister Mosioua Lekota yesterday dismissed criticism that the rate of HIV and AIDS infection among soldiers was affecting the work of the military in defending South Africa.

Answering questions in the National Assembly yesterday, Lekota said this criticism was based on reports that there was an 89 per cent infection rate in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

"To suggest that there is an 89 per cent infection rate creates an unfortunate, wrong and unfair impression that the SANDF is inefficient," said Lekota.

He repeated earlier assertions that the rate was between 17 and 23 per cent, which reflected the statistics for South Africa in general.

Lekota said the Defence Department was trying to encourage soldiers and their families to volunteer for testing. This would provide a more accurate picture of the rate of infection, which would enable the department to make effective interventions.

To assist in this testing process, the SANDF already has two testing stations open, with a further two to follow.

It is expected that six testing centres will be opened around the country over the next year.

Lekota was responding to a question from the Democratic Alliance's Rafeek Shah that the SANDF was losing 338,000 work days a year because of people living with the disease.

Shah said this was compromising the operational readiness of the SANDF.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia De Lille said that statistics were "meaningless" and wanted to know what the SANDF was doing to assist those who are HIV positive. Lekota said those sick soldiers who could not be redeployed had access to home care.

AIDS has killed 1.7 million people in South Africa, including two children of the country's Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, reports Xinhua. The country, with a total population of some 45 million, tops the list of nations hardest hit by HIV/AIDS around the world, a report by Statistics South Africa said. Buthelezi has been praised for his bravery to tell the public the cause of his children's death after his 53-year-old son died in April and 48-year-old daughter died this month of AIDS-related illnesses. He warned South Africans that HIV/AIDS affects all, despite lifestyle. "Only the most naive can continue to believe that they are not going to be directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS because of its being allegedly limited to the poorer reaches of our nation, or those with particular sexual orientations," Buthelezi was quoted as saying by the South African Press Association.

He told Parliament that the disease has destroyed his family, "in spite of the lifestyle stringently maintained by my wife and me and the social status we enjoy." Buthelezi blamed the government for failing to make HIV/AIDS a national emergency. AIDS, as well as crime, unemployment and poverty, should be treated as a national crisis and receive "the overwhelming allocation of public spending," he said. Meanwhile, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) estimated the extent of HIV/AIDS among its soldiers at 23 percent, an official said. The estimate was based on tests conducted on personnel being assessed for deployment on foreign peacekeeping missions. The proportion was even higher than South Africa's average HIV prevalence rate, estimated to be 15.2 percent in 2004 by Statistics South Africa. The Democratic Alliance (DA) has appealed to the government to curb widespread myths about the disease after a mother axed her two-year-old for reportedly contracting the disease. She thought he was infected with HIV and was therefore possessed by the devil.

SA National Defence Force Captain John Webb, 26, who was killed while on patrol along the Lesotho border last week, will be buried with full military honours on Friday, the SANDF said on Thursday.

Webb, who died after sustaining a chest wound during a shoot-out, was participating in Operation CIFAT II:2004, a regional initiative to combat the flow of illicit firearms across Southern African Development Community borders.

His killer, driving a red Volkswagen Golf GTI, opened fire on the patrol as he drove past. Free State SANDF spokesman, Captain Stan Makhele, said the killer was still at large.

Webb will be buried at 7am on Friday, August 20, at the NG Kerk Rowellan Park in Port Elizabeth.

The German Submarine Consortium (GSC) is determined to show that the industrial participation (IP) component of the controversial multi-billion rand arms deal works.

The GSC, through its IP partner Ferrostaal, have forged, what it says is South Africa's first black economic empowered (BEE) engineering services provider to the mining industry.

Ferrostaal's local subsidiary, Ferroman, now owns 30 percent of minerals process engineering and project management specialist Metallurgical Design and Management (MDM), a Randburg-based company.

The BEE component is provided by South 2 South, a facilitations company established last year.

"The partnership builds on MDM's strengths as a highly flexible boutique provider of turnkey mining projects the financial muscle, global reach, and skills depth of Ferroman's parent, Ferrostaal AG of Essen, Germany, and the Africa-focused project management solutions of South 2 South," MDM and Ferroman said in a joint statement.

The announcement of the deal, for which no financial value could be given, comes in the wake of yet more scepticism that offsets could work.

Earlier this week it was reported that two of the five defence companies contracted to manufacture ships, submarines, helicopters and fighter aircraft might have to pay millions of rand in fines for not meeting their deadlines to invest in the domestic economy and create more jobs.

When the R29 billion arms deal was signed in 2000, armament companies undertook to invest in the South African industrial sector, generating R104 billion and 65,000 jobs.

The report added that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a recent briefing to the Cabinet, confirmed that two of the companies might be fined five percent of their non-defence IP investments for falling short on the promised investments.

The DTI is considering giving the companies more time to produce the goods.

"We have to look at their efforts... it is a challenge to South Africa that we are not going to punish (the companies) if they don't meet contractual obligations or fall short of meeting five percent of their milestones. Do we really have to ignore the 95 percent of their excellent (investments)?" asked DTI chief director Sipho Zikode.

The main contractors, other than the GSC are: BAE Systems of Britain, Agusta of Italy, Thales of France and the German Frigate Consortium (GFC).

By the end of the year the GSC is expected to have delivered offsets worth US748 million, BAE US2.3 billion, GFC US56.5-million, Augusta US42.6 million and Thales US278.4-million.

Ferrostaal managing director Stephan Gehlhoff declined to comment on progress to date, saying it was for Zikode to do so, in order to "avoid false rumours."

He did repeat, however, that Ferrostaal was committed to delivering the offsets it promised in 2000.

"There can no longer be any doubt that besides helping re-equip the SANDF (SA National Defence Force), South Africa's defence procurement is also creating real economic benefits for the country," Gehlhoff added.

He added that the tie-up with MDM made up a considerable portion of its offset obligations.

MDM chief executive Robbie McCrae said the deal was their first venture into BEE. As a mining service company he said they were bound by the mining charter.

The company already had employment equity and affirmative procurement policies.

"The new partnership allows MDM to expand its horizons even further," he said, pointing out new business already obtained through Ferroman in Kazakhstan, Russia's far-eastern Kamchatka region and northern Sweden.

"At the same time we have become the first empowered supplier of minerals process engineering and project management to the South African mining and beneficiation industries."

However, South 2 South's Zaid Isaacs and Julekha Mohammed said it would take a year or two to "operationalise" the BEE deal.

McCrae confirmed this, adding it was within Mining Charter time frames.

Nearly one in every four South African servicemen has contracted HIV/AIDS while the country 's political parties urged the government to increase public spending and education to fight against the pandemic.

The South African National Defense Force (SANDF) estimated the extent of HIV/AIDS among its soldiers stands at 23 percent, the SANDF's health service director Pieter Oelofse said on Tuesday.

The estimate was based on tests conducted on personnel being assessed for deployment on foreign peace-keeping missions, he was quoted as saying by SABC news.

The proportion was even higher than South Africa's average HIV prevalence rate, which was estimated to be 15.2 percent in 2004 by Statistics South Africa, the country's statistical agency.

Such a prevalence has put South Africa, with a total population of some 45 million, on top of the list of hardest-hit countries by HIV/AIDS around the world.

According to Statistics South Africa's estimation, AIDS has killed 1.7 million South Africans, including two children of the country's Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Buthelezi has been praised for his bravery to tell the public the cause of his children's death after his 53-year-old son and 48- year-old daughter died of AIDS-related illnesses respectively in April and this month.

On Tuesday, he again warned South Africans that HIV/AIDS effects all, despite lifestyle.

"Only the most naive can continue to believe that they are not going to be directly or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS because of its being allegedly limited to the poorer reaches of our nation, or those with particular sexual orientations," Buthelezi was quoted as saying by the South African Press Association.

He told the Parliament that HIV/AIDS has destroyed his family, "in spite of the lifestyle stringently maintained by my wife and me and the social status we enjoy."

Buthelezi blamed the government for failing to make HIV/AIDS a national emergency and by absolute priority.

AIDS, as well as crime, unemployment and poverty, should be treated as a national crisis and receive "the overwhelming allocation of public spending," he said.

South Africa's another political party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has also appealed to the government to initiate campaigns across the country to curb widespread myths about HIV/AIDS.

The call was made following a two-year-old toddler was allegedly murdered by his mother with an ax on Sunday because she thought he was infected with HIV and was therefore possessed by the devil.

Local newspaper The Citizen said 4.2 percent of South Africans over the age of 15 believe AIDS is caused by witchcraft and 14.1 percent were not able to say whether they believed this or not.

Undercover investigators have arrested an army captain and four soldiers for allegedly systematically ambushing, stripping, and robbing illegal Zimbabwean immigrants.

The SA National Defence Force soldiers also allegedly raped a number of Zimbabwean women before making them swim the crocodile-infested Limpopo River back to Zimbabwe.

"The claims are shocking, especially because the people involved are supposed to be protecting the public," said police task team leader Capt Fanie Molapo yesterday.

"We conducted a three-month undercover investigation and have arrested the first five soldiers on theft-related charges after finding a container full of loot that they'd allegedly stolen from Zimbabweans.

"Additional charges and arrests might follow as we collect further evidence."

The soldiers and their commanding officer were all arrested at the Madimbo military base on the Zimbabwean border on Sunday [15 August]. The men cannot be named until they appear in court later this week.

"The soldiers stripped the Zimbabweans of all their valuables and then handed them over to police to be deported. They failed, however, to hand over any of the confiscated goods," said Molapo.

"Undercover investigators recovered some of the contraband from a storage container in the Madimbo camp, including five new bicycles and 60 cartons of cigarettes.

"The Zimbabweans who complained to us mentioned both bicycles and cigarettes, so it appears that we have pretty strong evidence to back up the theft charges. We are still probing claims by some Zimbabweans that they were raped by soldiers," he said.

The river is notorious for crocodile attacks, with bodies of suspected "fence jumpers" routinely recovered from the South African side of the river.

"We will not hesitate to arrest anyone implicated in rapes or any other kind of human rights abuse in this matter," said Molapo.

SANDF spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi confirmed yesterday that the military was aware of the arrests and was monitoring the case closely.

French Vice Admiral Xavier Rolin is in South Africa to discuss cooperation between Pretoria and Paris in the fight against terrorism, illegal fishing, piracy and drug smuggling.

Mr Rolin arrived in South Africa today and is also expected to finalise an agreement between France and South Africa to equip and deliver two Namaccura-class harbour patrol boats to the Mozambican Armed Forces.

The boats will assist the Mozambicans to combat similar problems especially illegal fishing that is rampant in the east African country.

Senior South African National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel will represent South Africa.

Admiral Rolin has been commanding the French Navy in the Indian Ocean maritime zone since March 2004.

The South African Navy is refitting the two Namaccura-class harbour patrol boats and France is providing them with five 150hp Yamaha outboard engines, two KVH Azimuth 1000 digital compasses and two Furuno global positioning systems.

South Africa will also fund transportation of the boats from Simons Town to Maputo to take place on 8 -14 September. Both countries would also be responsible for training Mozambican crews and engineers.

Admiral Rolin will also visit the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) in Pretoria.

The National Defence Force estimates the extent of HIV/Aids in its ranks at 23 per cent, SABC news reported on Tuesday.

This is according to a briefing to the National Assembly's defence portfolio committee by the director of the SANDF's health service, General Pieter Oelofse.

The estimate was based on tests conducted on personnel being assessed for deployment on foreign peace-keeping missions. Oelofse also confirmed that 30 per cent of the soldiers tested failed to meet physical standards for deployment abroad.

He said new recruiting policies should result in intakes of younger, healthier troops.

A South African National Defence Force (SANDF) officer was killed in a shoot-out during an operation along the Lesotho border on Friday, eastern Free State police said.

Inspector Loraine Kalp said Captain Andrew Webb, 25, was wounded in the chest after a man opened fire on him and a patrol during a border operation around 8.15pm [local time].

The joint operation involved the police, the defence force, the National Intelligence Agency and the department of Home Affairs.

Webb was shot and wounded when he an others of the joint task team stopped and approached a vehicle along a gravel road near Fouriesburg.

As they approached, the driver opened fire and tried to speed away.

The team returned the fire.

During the shoot-out, Webb was shot in the chest.

He later died in a provincial hospital at Bethlehem.

Webb was from 1 Special Services Battalion at Bloemfontein.

He was participating in Operation CIFAT II:2004, a regional initiative to combat the flow of illicit firearms across Southern African Development Community borders.

His killer, driving a red Volkswagen Golf GTI, remains at large.

Police are seeking the help of the public to bring the man to book.

The defence force has unveiled a multipurpose container worth R100 000 to be used for transporting ammunition, medication, military equipment and suppliers.

The container was built and designed by a Johannesburg-based company, Container World, and is set to save the department about R500 000 in transportation costs.

Briefing the media in Pretoria today, Officer Commanding of the Military Health Base Depot Gideon Odendaal said the idea came after the previous vehicle had to be replaced since it was too costly to repair and service.

"We assisted in designing the container, we told the manufacturers exactly what we wanted," said Colonel Odendaal.

"We needed something that can be used on our vehicles that we already have, we did not want a new vehicle for that," he said.

It is designed to accommodate and transport all the necessary military equipment with ease, he explained.

The container can easily be transported by either road or by air transport and has unique features such as a sleeping quarter for two or three people and is bulletproof.

Defence HURRY UP AND WAIT The SA Army may finally be starting its assault on the high ground The struggling SA army will take its biggest step yet towards rejuvenation when it recruits more than 3000 youthful volunteers - equal to about 9% of its current troop strength - for a two-year training programme beginning in January next year.

The intake will be more than three times the number of last year's army allocation in the SA National Defence Force's (SANDF) incipient military skills development (MSD) system (Current Affairs October 24 2003).

It is the early phase of a slender lifeline for the military, which, if granted sufficient funds and political support and bolstered with new-generation vehicles and equipment, could serve to reverse the long-term decline of SA's military prowess.

The army's share of the troop intake will rise to 75% from last year's 45%, indicating the military establishment's realisation that the army is taking increasing strain from peacekeeping and domestic demands.

SA has nearly 3000 soldiers deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is also preparing a small observer group of 10 for Sudan. Such deployments require the same number of troops in preparation at home and ideally a third group in training to augment the rotation. But few defence forces ever achieve the ideal, let alone those with deep-seated transformation problems such as the SANDF, which has domestic duties such as border control and policing back-up. Meanwhile, military planners say they have begun drawing up specifications for new-design infantry combat vehicles and modular-design troop-carrier trucks to replace the largely obsolete Ratels, Casspirs, Buffels and Samils. But long time lags in military procurement and budget constraints could hold up the vehicle replacements until after 2010.

Old, undertrained soldiers and rickety vehicles and equipment are two of the biggest hurdles for the cash-strapped SANDF, especially for the army, which was excluded from the multibillion-rand strategic arms package.

"Due to budgetary constraints, some of our prime mission equipment is no longer serviceable, and even some of our buildings are dilapidated," new army chief Lt Gen Solly Shoke told the FM recently (People July 30). Asked whether the army could cope with mounting demands on SA from the UN and African Union to expand its peacekeeping role in Africa, Shoke quipped: "Let's say, money talks. We can deploy people, but when we do, we must have the resources to sustain them." His words echo the frustrations of defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota and other military leaders who have warned repeatedly that the SANDF is stretched to the limit in manpower and equipment for peacekeeping. Lekota recently called for the defence budget to be raised to 2% of GDP from the present level of about 1,5%. The annual payments for the strategic arms package will continue to rise until 2007, placing further strain on the budget.

SANDF strategy & planning chief director Rear Adm Rolf Hauter recently outlined how the defence force had to maintain its mobility by redistributing resources between units for those that needed them most, and cannibalising spare parts from broken trucks and armoured cars.

Most of the specialised military vehicles in use today were taken into service in the 1980s and, since most had a serviceable life span of about 20 years, many are now verging on scrap, what Hauter calls "a point of critical mass".

"If a system goes below critical mass, it is better to close it down than to waste resources in trying to maintain it," he says. "The army is using a system of re-prioritisation to keep all of its equipment just above critical mass." It was able to operate this way because there was no conventional military threat to SA. That enabled the military to mothball vehicles to prolong their lives. For instance, the Olifant tank is "close to critical mass" but because there is no threat of conventional war, it can be mothballed and brought back if needed.

Ratel combat vehicles are more crucial because they are needed for peacekeeping and other operational work. Though many are at the point of obsolescence, there are enough in storage to replace broken vehicles. "The infantry and engineering environment is kept higher above critical mass than most environments," Hauter says.

Shoke says the key to enlarging SA's peacekeeping ability, aside from MSD recruitment, is for the SANDF to maintain its phased withdrawal from domestic operations such as border control and police reinforcement over the next several years, as outlined in SANDF strategy documents. At this stage, however, the country requires continued military involvement.

"As much as the focus is on peace support operations, we cannot do that at the expense of South Africans at home or our security situation," Shoke said.

Hauter says between nine and 14 companies are involved in border control operations. That would involve 2700-4200 troops, as well as support from medical and air force units, not to mention replacement units in training. Couple that to the 6000-7000 troops tied to peacekeeping, and one begins to see the manpower and equipment strain on a force that has to contend with health, age and fitness problems.

The MSD system is designed to introduce talent and young blood into SA's creaking military system, where the average age of a private is 32 years, or nine years above the international ideal.

But that is already a one-year improvement on the previous year's average age, thanks to the MSD system which recruited nearly 2100 volunteers into the SANDF in 2003. Just fewer than 1000 of those went to the army, by far the largest arm of the defence force, commanding 45% of the total strength of 75000 (of which nearly 60000 are uniformed).

SANDF officers have called the system a skills-training programme, as only a quarter of those recruited will remain in the core military force to become future leaders. Those who leave the permanent force after two years will automatically pass into the defence reserves. They will be looking for full-time civilian work, and MSD is supposed to equip them with enough experience and skills to be job competitive, says SANDF human resource planning director Brig Gen Dries de Wit.

One of many advantages in the youth recruitment is that young soldiers can be paid less than old soldiers and are more willing to work far from home. So the MSD should reduce the SANDF wage bill and provide a more mobile force.

A major impediment to the introduction of the MSD, not to mention the racial balancing and transformation of existing personnel, has been the military's inability to retire aged soldiers.

An exit mechanism to enable voluntary and equitable retirement of soldiers from all the former armies - those of the old apartheid government and its bantustans, as well as the liberation forces - has been in place for years. But the SANDF has not been able to implement it for political and bureaucratic reasons. First, government blanched at the prospect of retrenching its liberation heroes, putting them on the streets where they could turn to crime and fall victim to other social ills.

After overcoming that with an agreement to grant pensions to former guerrillas on a scale equal to that of their former SA Defence Force counterparts, the defence department ran into bureaucratic obstacles. Military unions have been holding up the exit mechanism in the bargaining chamber.

But De Wit says there are signs the impasse will soon be resolved. He expects an exit mechanism to be in place before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, a plan to retrain and transfer older soldiers to the police and other government services, such as SA Revenue Service, has begun hesitantly with the recent transfer of 69 soldiers into police service. De Wit says the police have indicated they will take 800 ex-soldiers next year, but they don't want anyone more than 40 years old. Shoke says he is negotiating to resolve that issue soon.

However successful programmes such as the MSD system, the rotation of equipment and personnel transformation may be, one thing is clear: the scale of the challenge is immense and sustainable solutions will not come easily or soon.

Parliamentary oversight of the SA National Defence Force was being short-circuited by ANC loyalists and was therefore more theoretical than real, Democratic Alliance defence spokesman Rafeek Shah told a symposium on the challenges facing the South African military in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Shah said while the Constitution set down a clear hierarchy of authority on military matters, this was in danger as positions of authority on every level were filled with African National Congress cadres.

"For example, whilst the parliamentary portfolio committee has powers of oversight over the armed forces, this is mitigated by the fact that ANC loyalists can squash at their pleasure any attempt for real oversight to occur. This manifested itself with the arms deal debacle, where very little oversight was carried out," Shah said to an audience of military officers and defence academics at the University of Pretoria.

Shah added that the separation of party and state was "absolutely central to the proper functioning of a democracy."

He added that since it came to power in 1994 the ANC had continuously blurred the distinction between party and state.

"The ANC's alarming tendency to centralise power is no more apparent than in its relationship with the Defence Force, which in many respects bears an uncanny resemblance to that of the NP's (National Party) when it assumed power in 1948," Shah said in reference to a series of ethnic purges carried out in the then-Union Defence Force that year that had gutted the military.

"ANC-style transformation views demography as destiny... The ANC's preoccupation with exerting party control over all state institutions through its commitment to "transformation" has resulted in the defence force becoming less professional and in some instances unable to meet both its internal and external obligations," Shah said.

"The average landward defence capability is reported to be at 45 percent of capacity with only 19 of 45 companies available for deployment..."

On the air-side, only 88 aircraft and 467 helicopters were ready for use and 15 of the Navy's 24 vessels operational.

These shortcomings were not always known, Shah said, added that "some senior ANC-linked officials aware of the need for strict loyalty had started to engage in 'sunshine' reporting, highlighting mainly the positive aspects that they think their superiors want to hear."

The best remedy for these problems was to reprofessionalise the SANDF.

"It must be made clear to the SANDF that they are leaders of men and secondly managers of material. The fascination with racially managing human resources must stop. Emphasis must be placed on leading soldiers into battle and in training them... There is a need to re-examine the ease with which senior NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and WOs (warrant officers) become senior officers and establish an officers' culture in the SANDF," Shah concluded.

In reply, ANC MP Gerhard Koornhof said there was consensus that adjustments had to be made to the Defence Review that guided defence policy so that force requirements, operational commitments and budget allocations could be aligned.

"It is then the prerogative of national government to allocate budgets to support its policies, within the constraints of the national budget," Koornhof said.

He also sought to dispel fears that the ANC was willing to sacrifice defence capabilities in order to boost racial credibility.

"Ten years after its establishment, our armed forces have transformed themselves into a representative force, achieving legitimacy in the eyes of the population. They are capable of defending our country and of supporting our people, and are successfully executing initiatives to ensure peace and security on the continent," Koornhof said.

Ugly things were reported about the defence force this past week.

On the one hand, a reliable source at a seminar told of how rife the defence force is with AIDS. And what is almost worse is the fact that [defence minister] Mosioua Lekota is blind to this and denies that a problem exists.

On the other hand, there were reports of how spokespersons from all four defence force sections - the army, airforce, navy and medical services - testified before a parliamentary committee. They had a lot to say, but one common theme was interwoven throughout the testimony: A lack of money means that the defence force cannot be regarded as well prepared.

The army's once widely respected 44 Parachute Brigade had to be downgraded to a regiment. The troops in the army are mostly those who joined in 1994 and immediately afterward and they are now becoming too old to meet the stringent requirements for operational deployment.

The army is also increasingly saddled with ageing equipment that can be kept going only with great effort. New infantry battle vehicles to replace the Ratel [badger] are urgently needed and there was just enough money to modernize 90 Rooikat [lynx] armoured vehicles and 44 Olifant [elephant] tanks - too few to meet the army's needs.

In fact, even the 44 modernized MK 1B Olifants will not last long on a modern battlefield against most other tanks. Actually, brand new tanks should be acquired.

In the meantime, the efforts to reinstate the reservists have shown little progress, despite brave attempts on the part of enthusiastic part-time troops at unit level. The scrapping of the commandos has also not helped.

With regard to the airforce and navy, things at fist glance seem somewhat better. The airforce, after all, is getting new trainer aircraft, jet fighters and helicopters; the navy is getting corvettes and submarines.

But before the parliamentary committee the airforce complained about too few aircraft and the deterioration of planes, weapons and land support. Here lie the major shortcomings in strategic air-transport capacity, for example to assist South African troops in Central Africa without delay in the event of an emergency.

With its nine C-130 Hercules cargo planes, the airforce does not nearly have the capacity it needs to create a proper air bridge in the short term.

The navy has to deal with a constant brain drain as competent officers and non-commissioned officers leave the force. This is one of the basic reasons why the battle support vessel SAS Outeniqua will be sold after just 11 years - to have enough crew members for the corvettes.

In this regard, there are still two important shortcomings, namely a minesweeper capacity (which was abandoned) and troop vessels with a proper amphibian function -something that is essential if South Africa wants to carry out its self-imposed task of supporting peacekeeping missions in Africa effectively.

Amidst all this we have also learned of renewed pressure on white middle-level officers - between the ranks of major and colonel (or lieutenant commander and captain in the navy) - to take packages and leave. Because there are too many whites in these ranks.

In other words, the brain drain that the defence force has been experiencing over the past 10 years (and which is at least partially responsible for the current problems) must now be further accelerated!

The enthusiasm of white reservists is dampened by the constant stream of messages coming from the top: the unit's demographics must be "corrected" at all rank levels. The message that often comes through is that whites are merely tolerated in the defence force.

In the national interest, the government had immediately on coming to power in 1994, adopted a fundamental policy resolution that South Africa needs a modern, professional defence force. This despite unhappy murmurs within the ANC at the time.

Since then the defence force has been used as policy instrument to uplift disadvantaged communities through training and to help stabilize Africa. The soldiers did this to the best of their ability, even if overstrained in places.

But a vital requirement for this is enough money and the capacity to use the money correctly. There is no point in having an empty shell in a uniform who cannot perform his task in an emergency.

More money is one of the things that will have to happen. Another is that the defence force should make a greater effort to retain existing expertise and even to get back the experienced soldiers that left for "demographic reasons" - even if they are in the reservist force. Only then will the SANDF [South African National Defence Force] be able to do what the government and the country expects of it.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota is leading a South African delegation to a three-day meeting, the RSA/Namibia Joint Commission on Defence and Security, in Walvis Bay, Namibia.

The Commission is discussing cross border drug-trafficking, illegal firearms, poaching, ivory smuggling and trafficking in endangered wild life and general crime along common borders.

The South African delegation includes Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Malusi Gigaba, Secretary for Defence January Masilela and Senior Military Officers.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the United Kingdom signed two military pacts to boost a peace force.

Minister Lekota said the agreement would facilitate and regulate increasing bilateral military cooperation between the two countries, particularly in areas of combined military exercises.

"The signing of the agreements is a positive development not only for the military-diplomatic relationship, but also for the overall bilateral relationship between both countries," said minister Lekota.

"This development also reflects the commitment of both parties to take joint responsibility to solve regional security issues by the role the UK is prepared to play in augmenting our capacity to prepare our forces for peacekeeping operations in the Region and the Continent," he added.

The agreement will see Britain providing technical and logistical personnel and equipment to South Africa.

The equipment would include ordinances needed to destroy small arms caches.

Reports of a crisis in the combat-readiness of South Africa's National Defence Force (SANDF) due to HIV/AIDS were dismissed by the Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota.

His response followed claims by experts at a recent AIDS workshop in KwaZulu-Natal province that AIDS was threatening the fighting fitness of SANDF soldiers.

Statistics cited during the conference revealed that of the 1,089 SANDF soldiers who had volunteered for testing, 947 were HIV-positive - an infection rate of 89 percent. The SANDF's official figures for HIV/AIDS prevalence stands at 23 percent.

"Nothing that we do not already know has been learnt from this workshop. Just like the rest of South Africa, the defence force has members who are infected with the virus - this does not mean that we are experiencing major problems or facing a disaster. We have several plans of action in place to combat the epidemic," a local newspaper, The Mercury, quoted Lekota as saying.

SA AND the UK have signed two defence agreements paving the way for greater military co-operation between the two countries.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said at the signing ceremony yesterday that military cooperation between South African and UK armed forces had developed "to a level where it could be described as very close and progressively expanding".

The agreements could boost UK military advice to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and lead to more exercises by UK armed forces in SA.

One of the agreements formalises the position of a team of 10 British military advisers in SA.

The British Peace Support Team's mandate is to advise the SANDF on peacekeeping and help train South African peacekeepers who are to leave for duty in Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

The team will soon assist the SANDF with computer simulation exercises to prepare officers for future missions. SA and the UK will share the R13m cost of the advisory team.

With plans for a five-brigade African Standby Force to deal with contingencies to be in existence by 2010, SA is expected to play an increasing role in African peace-keeping efforts.

The second agreement eases the way for British forces to conduct military exercises in SA. The agreement allows SA to facilitate entry and customs clearance of UK forces coming to SA.

Later this year, senior generals from SA and the UK are expected to discuss further plans for military co-operation.

The Army is so underfunded that it no longer fields a combat-ready parachute capability, a recent briefing to Parliament said.

The briefing, by senior departmental officials, took place on June 4 but drew no attention at the time.

Democratic Alliance deputy defence spokesman Hendrik Schmidt said on Tuesday he would be asking what was meant by 44 Parachute Regiment being "not combat ready."

The regiment includes the Regular 1 Parachute Battalion and the Reserve 2 and 3 Parachute Battalions.

2 Parachute Battalion only exists on paper and 3 Parachute Battalion has become ineffective, apparently because many of its signed-up members have taken lucrative security contracts in Iraq.

The situation at 1 Parachute Battalion is unknown.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota dismissed on Monday a weekend report that 89 percent of soldiers -- 947 out of 1089 -- at a KwaZulu-Natal base who volunteered for testing were HIV-positive.

The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) was said to be losing at least 400,000 working days a year because of the disease.

Lekota said on Monday the detail in the report was nothing new.

Last year he put the figure for HIV/Aids-prevalence in the military at 23 percent, but Aids specialists say a more realistic figure would be 40 percent.

The parliamentary briefing also showed the reserve component will take between three and five years -- if adequately funded -- to field a brigade of 3000 to 5000 troops and five to eight years to field another under peacetime budgeting conditions.

Despite this, it is understood the Army plans to deploy around 10 reserve companies on peacekeeping in the near future to relieve pressure on the regulars.

Current planning is that the first two companies should deploy in June 2005.

The Army was also increasingly concerned at what it called an ineffective procurement process and the high average age of their soldiers, coupled with a general deterioration in health -- borne out by the weekend report.

A briefing by the Department of Defence the week before highlighted similar concerns.

The department's strategic business plan for 2004/05 to 2006/07 said combat readiness was affected by the health status of the troops, with the report highlighting their advancing age and the ravages of tuberculosis -- an opportunistic disease often associated with Aids.

"Budget constraints are adversely affecting the ability of the SANDF to maintain and sustain certain capabilities... Thus, deployment of troops for internal and external purposes and also joint and multinational exercises may be affected negatively," it added.

Also at the briefing, the Air Force complained of the deterioration of their aircraft, weapons and ground support infrastructure.

They were also worried about a decline in the numbers of suitably qualified and experienced personnel, such as pilots.

Flying hours for training as well as operations were being reduced as a result.

The Navy, meanwhile, was concerned about a lack of logistical support, ordnance and facilities available to it, principally for its four new corvettes and three submarines.

It was closing some depots and support bases as well as its reserve units to free up funds.

The Military Health Service was also hard-pressed by the high rate of medical inflation and an apparent inability to recruit medical professionals.

In addition, its hospitals and equipment were in a poor state.

The service was therefore reducing funding for defence against chemical and biological weapons.

Concern was also expressed about the standard of training and evaluation of troops deployed on peacekeeping.

Troops are meant to receive "mission-ready training" before departure and must be certified "combat ready" before they go, but it was recently found that three out of four mortars deployed to Burundi were defective and that their crews were not trained to use the weapons.

The Institute for Security Studies' Len le Roux said it was clear there is a growing mismatch between policy and funding.

Le Roux added that the SANDF's current budget guidelines presumed a six percent annual growth in the economy, no internal security issues, 1000 troops on peacekeeping duty and the rationalisation of defence force bases and personnel.

The economy has not grown at nearly that rate, meaning that crime became a bigger issue than anticipated and today 3000 troops are deployed abroad.

"These things cost money," he said, adding that the lack of a retrenchment scheme has already cost the SANDF R5 billion.

Le Roux said the reluctance to retrench was understandable considering high unemployment and the SANDF's sense of social responsibility.

But in keeping on unnecessary staff and deploying more soldiers on peacekeeping and in support of the police than planned, funding meant to train, equip and professionalise a small core force and a larger reserve.

"Something has to give. You can't take their pay or rations, so you take training and development funds. This is unfortunately what has happened. As a result the Army has run down."

The SANDF could not be reached for comment on Tuesday morning.