SANDF to Turn Over a New Leaf As It Adapts to New Challenges
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is transforming into a crusade that saves lives.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says South Africa's peace keeping mission in the African region now forms one of the core functions of SADF.
"Peacekeepers need to be trained in a range of skills that articulate responsibilities that go beyond the comfort zone of the military base and military barracks," he said.
He said that the challenges faced by SANDF members in their peace mission were such that they could not be overcome by military training alone.
"In the current scenario, and for the foreseeable future, or greatest and most urgent enemies are poverty, underdevelopment and environmental degradation.
"We understand that the roots of conflict on our continent arise from these problems," he said.
Mr Lekota said any SANDF preparations before engaging in any of these missions should aim at culminating of the defeat of these evils.
"And to be successful we need a more flexible force, a force which is multi skilled," he said.
As part of its effort to bring peace and stability in the African Continent, the Department of Defence has deployed soldiers in troubled countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and the Comoros.
However, Mr Lekota said SANDF experiences from the various peace keeping missions across the continent demonstrated that there was a need to transform SANDF.
To be more effective in its peace missions, Mr Lekota said the army had embarked on a transformation exercise, Vision 2020.
"Army vision 2020 is an in-house plan to address the transformation of the biggest component of the SANDF.
"It is our belief that it will reach maturity in 2020," he said.
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03 Avril 2006 à 16:41 dans
- zsandf (anglais)
