Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The South African Air Force (SAAF) has embarked on a process to become a "tactical" air force and to ensure better service delivery both in the country and Africa as a whole.

The process, according to SAAF Chief, Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiono, involved among other things, personnel training, upgrading and phasing out of old aircraft fleet.

Lt-General Gagiono said the process would enable the force to meet its obligations better during peacekeeping missions on the African continent.

Currently, the SAAF is acquiring new state-of-the-art aircraft.

The transformation process is said to take place in all areas of the force.

Briefing the media in Pretoria this morning, Lt-General Gagiono said they were now training some of their personnel on the operation of the new aircraft.

"To date, the air force has recruited 1612 young deserving South Africans in its ranks in terms of the Department of Defence's Military Skills Development System.

"We are cooperating with regional and international partners in the field of training to enhance our skills," he said.

Last week, the SAAF received first two of the new 24 Hawk Mk 120 aircraft to replace the ageing Impala fleet which has been in service for 40 years.

Last year, it took delivery of the first six of 30 Augusta A109 helicopters.

The force is also awaiting the delivery of the Gripen fighter jets, the first expected in 2008. The full complement of the Gripen fleet is expected in 2011.

The Hawk aircraft are unique in their ability to have their cockpit configured to represent any modern front-line fighter.

They are an updated version of Hawk 100 series incorporating changes to the avionics suite and associated aircraft systems originally developed by BAE Systems for the Royal Australian Air Force's (RAAF) Hawk.

The aircraft are fitted with powerful Royce-Royce/Turbomeca engines and are being assembled at Denel's aircraft factory in Kempton Park.

A complete fleet of the 24 aircraft was expected mid-2007.

The acquisition of the helicopters, aircrafts, submarines and corvettes, is part of the arms deal that Cabinet approved in 2001.

This was to ensure that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) becomes a fully fledged defence force.

Last year, the Department of Defence received four of the 30 state-of-the-art corvettes from Augusta, Italy, to replace the ageing Alouette III fleet.

It is also anticipated that by 2007, the SAAF would have acquired a complete fleet of the new helicopters.

Former Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) combatant and SA National Defence Force colonel, Alfred 'Doempie' Molegang, died at his home in Valhalla in Tshwane on Tuesday morning.

Molegang, 69, succumbed to complications of his heart, liver and lungs. He was forced to retire from the army when his illness took a toll on him in 2002.

Doempie, as he was affectionately called, fled South Africa in 1962.

He underwent advanced military training in countries such as the Soviet Union and East Germany before his deployment into South Africa.

A member of the ANC's elite guerrilla Luthuli Detachment, he was deployed together with the late MK army commissar Chris Hani to Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia.

He also fought alongside Joshua Nkomo's Zitra forces, in a war in which the apartheid government's SADF soldiers aided Rhodesian president Ian Smith's regime.

Doempie was among the first MK guerrillas to be integrated into the new South Africa's SANDF. He rose within the army until he reached the rank of colonel.

He is survived by his wife Maria, five children, and six grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are set for Saturday. A brief service will be held at 11am at his home in 61 Brouwervos Street, Valhalla, before his body is escorted to his final resting place by the military.