Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Three South African National Defence Force members and three armed robbers died when their cars collided near Sasolburg on Sunday night, Free State police said on Monday.

Police spokeswoman Captain Rosa Benade said both vehicles caught fire with the occupants still trapped inside, and burned out.

Benade said 12 armed men robbed a cafe near Kragbron of about R12 000 after holding up the owner, an assistant and a cleaner.

The robbers fled the scene in three different vehicles.

Benade said three robbers in a Golf tried to pass another vehicle near the Koppies - Sasolburg intersection but collided head-on with an oncoming Citi Golf driven by the SANDF members.

Police found two handguns in the vehicle driven by the robbers.

Benade said the names of the SANDF members could not be released as the SANDF was in the process of informing the next-of-kin.

Police were still looking for the other suspects in the robbery.

Anyone with information was asked to phone Captain Chief Skosana at 083-363-8865.

The South African National Defence Force is to send a team of 10 military observers to Sudan as part of an African observer mission, said Government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe, SABC radio news reports.

This follows a request from the African Union. The South African representatives could stay in the country until March 2006.

702 Eyewitness News has learned that only 11 out of 47 [as received] defence force training institutions are accredited to provide approved training. It was recently revealed that police training facilities have not been verified by their approved Sector Education and Training Authority or SETA.

A new 702 Eyewitness News investigation has now shown that the defence force is also not complying with labour laws. 702's Liezl Thom reports.

[Reporter] The law requires all training providers to be accredited by a Sector Education and Training Authority. According to DIDETA [the defence SETA], only 10 of the armed forces' 47 training institutions have been provisionally accredited, with 11 applications still awaiting processing. Twenty six defence training facilities, more than 50 per cent, have not even applied for accreditation. DIDETA CEO [name indistinct] Louw.

[Louw] Once they get their qualification, they cannot use that qualification outside the defence force.

[Reporter] Louw also says the defence force's non-compliance means the standard of training cannot be verified. Liezl Thom, 702 Eyewitness News, Pretoria.

[Presenter] The SANDF, meanwhile, says stringent measures are taken to ensure the safety of all its personnel during training exercises. This comes after a soldier died following a parachute jump at the De Brug Training Facility near Bloemfontein last week. The trooper was alive when colleagues reached him after the jump, but died on the way to hospital.

Military officials have confirmed his parachute opened and remained opened until he crash-landed. The SANDF's Danny Shibembe.

[Shibembe] Precautions are taken on the standard of operations and the standard of working. Safety is always taken into consideration and I can assure the rest of the members that the leadership of the defence force is taking its members first.

SA needs growth, not armies It's a real relief to see Roy Andersen dismiss any need for compulsory national service in, Overlooked reservists bolster ranks of cash-strapped SANDF (October 13). As he says, SA faces no known immediate threat. As he doesn't say, we have more important things to do than maintain standing or reserve armies we don't need. Like adding value which creates jobs, growth and prosperity for all.

The Centre for Policy Studies' Chris Landsberg rightly told Parliament's foreign affairs committee that we should beware of being sucked into a conflict not of our making. That means anywhere in Africa, not just in far-off Iraq. Poor countries with stagnating economies should mind their own business.

What a pity government wasted all those billions of tax rand on the damnable arms deal so that "there is little left in the defence budget to spend on the reserves". But that's no reason to further penalise private wealth-creators.

I disagree strongly with Andersen's suggestion for a new recruitment drive by the Reserve Force. And it certainly must not recruit any existing productive employees and expect their employers to pay their salaries for six months while their workers are away on deployment detail. That's conscription or expropriation of private resources. Volunteer reservists should lose their jobs. Companies and individuals already pay twice the tax that might let our dismal economic growth rate improve and our horribly high unemployment rate fall.

All such foolishly wasteful military costs should be borne by the defence budget, which should be kept ruthlessly to a minimum or scrapped altogether. SA has not an enemy in sight and should not send forces cross-border to interfere in foreign squabbles.

Shareholders properly disapprove of throwing money or employees' time away. Do any of them or individual company directors want to support the South African National Defence Force's Reserve Force, or any other "good cause"? Well then, let them dig privately and charitably into their own pockets. We don't need armies these days, or oppressive taxes either. We need growth for a change.

Overlooked reservists bolster ranks of cash-strapped SANDF New recruits will be drawn mainly from among the unemployed International Affairs Effort THE South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Reserve Force, which has been neglected since compulsory citizen call-ups ended in 1994, is to receive a boost in the form of about 35000 new recruits over the next eight years. But suggestions that the army's new recruitment drive is essentially a step back to SA's national service days have been rejected by Maj-Gen Roy Andersen, Liberty Life's former CEO and current Sanlam chairman, who heads the reserves. He says that with SA's high unemployment rate, recruitment is not the problem, and budget support of the force is the most serious constraint.

Andersen says because SA faces no known immediate threat there is no need for compulsory national service.

Having a large reserve force will improve overall readiness, and also allow recruiters to identify people who perform well as candidates for the permanent force.

About 1000 members of the reserve force have been recruited this year, and the number will be gradually stepped up over the next eight years. Recruits have to meet the same health requirements as those applying for the permanent force - they cannot have a chronic disease and must be HIV negative. In addition, recruits cannot have a criminal record and must have passed matric.

The reserve force currently has 43000 territorials - formerly called the commandos - who are primarily responsible for duties such as border control and road blocks. There is also a 9000-strong conventional force. The plan is to dismantle the territorials by 2009, when the SANDF will no longer be required to support the police and undertake internal duties. The territorials are expected to join the police reserves, the defence force's conventional reserves, or retire. Additional recruits to the reserves will come from the 3000 people who have completed two-year stints in the defence force under the military skills development system. Andersen insists that the new recruitment campaign will require little sacrifice from South African business, which had been expected in the past to free up and pay white males in the reserve force. This time most of the new recruits will be unemployed. Since a proportion of recruits would be employed - and their companies would have to pay their salaries for six months while their workers were away on deployment details - it was seen as necessary to obtain a buy-in from business and labour for the recruitment drive. In light of this, the SANDF last week launched a council for the support of national defence. Mvelaphanda CEO Tokyo Sexwale, an honorary air force colonel, will be its chairman. Andersen insists the overriding motivation for the recruitment drive is that it makes financial sense for the SANDF. A reservist requires less financial input from the army than a permanent force member, who is entitled to a pension and health benefits. In addition, the reserve force can be called up as and when needed. Defence analysts say that the heavy burden on the defence budget of the arms package and salaries, means there is little left to spend on the reserves. However, payments on the arms package will gradually decrease in the next few years. Also driving the recruitment drive is the fact that the SANDF is stretched to provide more than the current 3000 troops on peacekeeping duties. For every soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Burundi two are required at home - one in training and one ready to go if required. The defence force is considering sending about 140 reserve-force troops to Congo in March next year. This will be the first time that an entire company of South African reservists will be deployed.

 Demilitarisation and Peace-Building in Southern Africa: The Role of the Military in State Formation and Nation-Building (The International Political Economy of New Regionalisms) Ashgate Publishing

32 Battalion: The Inside Story of South Africa's Elite Fighting Unit  by Piet Nortje, 315 pages, Publisher: Struik (October 2004)

Originally formed in order to lend support to the FNLA and UNITA in the Angolan war, 32 Battalion quickly gained the reputation of being an unconventional, secretive, yet highly effective group. Written by a man who was intimately involved with the unit and served as its Regimental Sergeant Major for two years, the book aims to explode the myths surrounding the legendary 32 and set the record straight. It records how and why 32 Battalion was formed, explores its unique identity forged by the men who fought in it, details the many operations in which they participated, and concludes with its eventual disbandment at the dawn of a new South Africa.
What they did, and how they did it, would earn this controversial group official recognition as the best fighting unit in the South African Army since World War II. This books unembellished, factual reporting will fill a big gap in the highly popular military genre.

About the Author
Piet Nortjes military career began in 1978, when he joined the former SADF Permanent Force. His involvement with 32 Battalion started in the same year, where he rose rapidly through the ranks. In 1984 he was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major of 32 Battalion, the youngest RSM ever in the SADF. Although his involvement with 32 Battalion came to an end in 1988, he continues to serve in the SANDF, a career now spanning 25 years.

SA National Defence Force IN STATE SERVICE Business and other civil society institutions have had little to do with the modern SA military since the early 1990s. But that's set to change with the launch of the Council for the Support of National Defence.

The council will be chaired by Mvelaphanda chairman and empowerment kingpin Tokyo Sexwale, who is already an honorary colonel in the SA Air Force.

Other members of the council include business elder statesman Wiseman Nkuhlu; Imperial Holdings chairman Bill Lynch; Business Unity CEO Bheki Sibiya; and SA Foundation executive director Neil van Heerden. Ex officio members are the acting chairman of the Reserve Force Council, Maj-Gen Reg Modise, and the chief of Defence Reserves, Maj-Gen Roy Andersen (chairman of Sanlam and Murray & Roberts, and formerly CEO of Liberty Life and the JSE).

The aim of the council is to promote the SA National Defence Force's (SANDF) Reserve Force (RF) by encouraging part-time service, as well as building support in society for those who wish to serve in the military as volunteers.

Sexwale, a former Umkhonto we Sizwe commander, told the FM: "Among business, labour and communities, we want to help develop a sense of national pride in those who carry arms on behalf of the nation." There is certainly an attitude backlog to be made up. When compulsory military service for whites was ended abruptly in the early 1990s, few in the business community mourned. For close on two decades the old SA Defence Force (SADF) had called men up every year, either for 30 days or for the unpopular "three-month camps", often in Namibia and Angola. The impact on an economy already short of skills, as well as on individuals' career prospects, was considerable and therefore resented. And many black South Africans saw the old SADF merely as an agent of apartheid. Now, with a severely limited budget and no immediate national military threat, the strategy of the SANDF is to maintain a small core capacity that can be expanded by calling up the RF.

The RF should also benefit from the council's other role, which is to advise SANDF chief Gen Siphiwe Nyanda on "the creation of a climate and conditions favourable to RF service".

Andersen says the council is "part of the strategy to transform and reposition the RF - it's a building block in their revitalisation".

In the old SADF, the predecessors of the RF - the Citizen Force (CF) units and the Commandos - were topped up by men who had completed extended national service. They generally had an obligation to serve for another 10 years. A minority volunteered for further service, and the survival of the RF regiments has depended since the early 1990s on this hard core of enthusiasts.

With military service now voluntary, the number of training units has dropped. To supplement those who join the RF after service in the regular forces, decentralised basic training is also arranged through RF units. The first RF company trained under this system is now being evaluated at the Combat Training Centre (formerly the Army Battle School) at Lohatla in the Northern Cape.

Good progress has been made, to the point, says Andersen, that "consideration is being given to deployment of RF volunteers to the Democratic Republic of Congo".

Dramatic changes have also been effected in the naval and air components of the RF. In the navy, the old CF units have essentially been abolished and 20% of berths on ships have been set aside for RF members, which should stimulate interest. The air force is finding ways to maintain links with the civilian flying world.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will this evening launch a support council at a ceremony to be held at the SA Army College in Thaba Tshwane.

The Chief of the SANDF General Siphiwe Nyanda is expected to launch the Council for the Support of National Defence.

The goals and functions of the new council as set out in the Constitution are to introduce and promote the Reserve Force Service and to lend support to reservists.

It is also responsible for advising government and SANDF management on ways to create a favourable climate and conditions to achieve a strong Reserve Force Military.

Former Umkhonto Wesizwe fighter and Robben Island prisoner, also retired politician now businessman, Tokyo Sexwale, is the Chairperson Designate of the Council. The Chief of Defence Reserves, Major General Roy Andersen, will introduce Colonel Sexwale at the function tonight.

In July 2003, the Defence Staff Council approved the restructuring of the membership and modus operandi of the previous National Defence Liaison Council (NDLC) to enable it to meet the needs of the SANDF in renewing and transforming the reserves.

Members of the Council for the Support of National Defence comprises prominent business people, community leaders, members of government departments, representatives of labour organisations, the Chief of Defence Reserves and the Chairperson of the Reserve Force Council.

Lekota hopes review will mean more funds to spend on 'landward defence'

THE role of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) is to be reviewed in Parliament over the next few weeks as politicians debate the armed forces' responsibility for peacekeeping and the defence of the nation.

Parliament's defence committee will review two documents underpinning SA's defence policy: the 1996 white paper and the 1998 government review that defined SA's defence posture and equipment needs.

Because these guiding documents failed to anticipate the scale of SA's involvement in peacekeeping operations, and stipulated the core responsibility of the SANDF as defence against external attack, many observers see inconsistencies.

And since these documents were written, health and age problems have become an increasing burden for the national defence force.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota steers clear of anticipating the outcome of the review, but speaks of "policy adjustments" rather than a wholesale changes .

The "review of the review" comes amid growing opposition criticism of the state of readiness of SA's armed forces, questions about how HIV/AIDS affects the SANDF and continuing criticism of the value of the arms package.

Lekota says there has been no change in the key priority of the defence force. But, he says, "there is nothing to suggest that in the foreseeable future we will be attacked by any country and, for the major part, our energy will be in peace support operations".

The core business of the SANDF will remain that of defending SA against external aggression, says Lekota .

The minister says he believes this is no impediment to the SANDF's ability to participate in peacekeeping operations, which contributes to building SA's security and strengthens its core role.

Improved training and technology allows today's soldiers to take on multiple roles, he says.

Lekota has no ready solutions for the SANDF's health and ageing problems . The average age of an SANDF private is in the early thirties, compared with the early twenties for most armed forces.

This contributes to health problems and reduces the number of troops that can be deployed. The United Nations stipulates that no HIV-positive troops can be sent on its peace missions.

Lekota says that if the defence force continues with its policy to reject applicants with serious health conditions, including HIV/AIDS, it can ultimately achieve a force where only 10% is HIV-positive.

Currently, he says, the figure is between 20% and 22%, but this is not the prime health problem in the force.

Solving the ageing problem will require a political decision on making retirement packages available, and has to be balanced against other budget needs.

Before that happens, he wants the issue of racial transformation and the reduction of the defence force to between 65000 and 70000 members to be addressed.

Lekota says over the medium term SA can easily meet its peacekeeping obligations, particularly as other African countries continue to share SA's burden.

The defence ministry is drafting a document to kick off discussions in Parliament. It is likely to deal with the changed international security environment since the September 11 attacks in the US, the role of technology in warfare, and plans for an African standby force.

The defence ministry would like the review process to provide consensus on policy, greater budget certainty and a basis for new acquisitions.

"Having ordered for the navy, the major issue for me is landward defence the army," says Lekota. The army has already begun the tender process for a new infantry fighting vehicle to replace the Ratel. Lekota says there is also a need for more tanks, and equipment for SA's special forces.

SA also requires new military airlift capacity, but Lekota says spending a 800m on eight new aircraft may not be realistic in terms of SA's budget priorities.

Lekota also says SA requires new military airlift capacity, and favours the acquisition of the A400M, the new aircraft that Airbus will start building next year. But he says spending Euros800m on eight new aircraft may not be realistic in terms of SA's budget priorities. Because of a shortage of airlift capacity SA currently charters planes from the Ukraine to transport troops and equipment to Burundi and the Conto, but Lekota says the cost is prohibitive.

A South African soldier has been arrested in Burundi in connection with the murder of a young woman, the Defence Ministry said in Pretoria on Monday.

Another source has told Sapa that the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has called for the exhumation of the body for further investigation.

This, the source said, was because it was felt that the murdered woman was buried "prematurely" before the murder investigation could be completed.

Sergeant Philippus Jacobus Venter, 32 -- a VIP protector -- was arrested on Friday and was being detained at the SANDF base in Bujumbura after local law enforcement agencies laid a charge of murder.

According to a defence ministry statement, Venter was alleged to have murdered Therese Nkeshimana on the night of September 19.

The source told Sapa that the two were alleged to have been seen getting into a taxi together in Bujumbura.

"The taxi apparently drove into a ditch and the two continued their journey on foot. This was the last time Nkeshimana was seen alive," the source said.

Her body was found the next day. She had apparently been strangled, the source said.

Investigations were said to have been hampered by the "premature" burial of Nkeshimana, which is why the SANDF wanted the exhumation, the source said.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota expressed shock and regret at the news.

He said he viewed the allegations of murder levelled at Venter in an extremely serious light because members of the SANDF deployed in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere in the continent were there to preserve lives and ensure peace and stability.

"If these allegations proved to be true, they will impact negatively on the otherwise sterling work done by thousands of SANDF members in the region and country," said Lekota's spokesman, Sam Mkhwanazi.

He said this was the first case of its kind and the Departments of Defence and Foreign Affairs would monitor it closely "to ensure that it is tried according to international norms and standards."