Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

An Unpopular War - From afkak to bosbefok. by J.H. Thompson, ed. Zebra Press (30 Jun 2006)

This book is a collection of reflections and memories of men who did National Service in the SADF. Contributors include ordinary soldiers, Special Forces members, helicopter pilots, chefs and religious objectors. The book is a fast, fascinating read that captures the spirit and atmosphere, the daily duties, the boredom, fear and other intense experiences of an SADF soldier. This book is for everyone who did military service, as well as for their loved ones.

In the seventies, eighties and nineties, conscription had a profound effect on hundreds of thousands of young men, particularly those who had to serve in the Angolan war. This title is a collection of reflections and memories of that time, collected by JH Thompson, who interviewed men who did National Service. Contributors include ordinary soldiers, Special Forces members, helicopter pilots, chefs and religious objectors. The title captures the spirit and atmosphere, the daily duties, the boredom, fear and other intense experiences of an SADF soldier. 
 

A soldier accused of shooting dead his two young children and wounding his wife was sent for further psychiatric observation on Thursday.

South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member Philippus Jacobus Venter was due to appear in the Hoedspruit Periodical Magistrate's Court in Limpopo for a bail application.

Prosecutor William Makwela said that Venter, who has been undergoing psychiatric observation at Mangkweng Hospital near Polokwane, did not appear.

"He is still in hospital. The doctor asked us for another 30 days to observe him," said Makwela from his Phalaborwa office.

The matter was postponed in Venter's absence to July 31.

Venter faces charges of murder, attempted murder and illegal possession of a rifle and ammunition.

The shooting happened in April at the Hoedspruit military base. At the time, Venter was being investigated on allegations of rape and murder in Burundi while he was part of a peacekeeping mission there. He is facing charges in connection with this.

Six men were arrested in a joint operation involving the South African National Defence Force, a private security company and police after an attempted cash-in-transit heist in the Drakensberg, police said on Wednesday.

Superintendent Zandra Hechter said that six men in two vehicles - an Isuzu bakkie and a Ford Laser - fired shots and rammed the cash-in-transit van which was on the way to a bank on Tuesday.

The driver of Stealth Security, who had collected money from the Drakensberg Gardens Hotel, alerted his employers by radio as he was rammed.

Hechter said Himeville police and the private security firm Berg Protection Services responded.

In the ensuing shootout a suspect fled in the bakkie, which was later abandoned. The other five fled in the Ford Laser.

In follow-up operations together with SANDF units in the area all six were arrested at various locations in the Underberg area.

Nobody was injured in the shootout and no cash taken.

The six were expected to appear in court soon on charges of attempted murder and attempted robbery, she said.

ROY Andersen's autobiography, Commanding Heights, is a quick and easy read for anyone interested in the man himself or in leadership generally. It includes leadership lessons learned from diverse sources, including Nelson Mandela and Constand Viljoen.

As Executive President of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 1992 to 1997, Andersen was responsible for its restructuring.

Then he became chief executive of Liberty Life from 1997 to 2003, and in 2004 was appointed chairman of Murray & Roberts Holdings, Virgin Active South Africa and Sanlam Limited.

The essence of the book is the duality of Andersen's roles in the military and in business. This is obvious from the picture on the book cover a man's chest with one side of his jacket a navy pin-striped suit and the other the dark green of an army uniform adorned with medals. The book is written as an account of personal experiences, largely in the SADF, and later the SANDF, closely analysed and translated into leadership lessons and skills which Andersen then put into practice in his corporate career.

The book is an analysis of leadership styles and strategies, the importance of planning and preparedness in any undertaking.

Andersen's military career began more by chance than by choice as he was the only matriculant of his high school in 1966 to be conscripted into the then South African Defence Force. His corporate career was a more deliberate choice but the skills he developed in the army he applied in the office and the boardroom, with obvious success.

The writing is clear and straightforward, with an unsurprisingly military-style crispness. Don't be put off by the emphasis on the army though one doesn't have to know anything about commanding an army as the complicated bits are explained in layman's terms.

Andersen doesn't hide his light under a bushel and lists his numerous achievements very matter-of-factly. And in case you missed anything along the way, his curriculum vitae is included as Appendix 2. That alone is worth a read if you're in the mood to be humbled.

The impressive CV can perhaps be explained in part when he describes his working day and says if necessary, I can work 12 hours non-stop from 7:30am, with perhaps 15 minutes off for a sandwich."

The community claiming the military buffer between South Africa's Limpopo province and Zimbabwe, will have to rent out a portion of the land to the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The Gumbu community, made up of seven clans from the Gumbu, Sigonde, Bend Mutale, Tshenzhelani, Masisi, Tshikuyu and Mutele areas, lodged a claim on the 27 000 hectare Madimbo Corridor along the Limpopo River in 1997.

Their claim was validated in 2004, but they have not yet occupied the land.

The claimants were impatient, but proper measures had to be taken because the land under claim was along an international border, Limpopo Land Claims Commissioner Mashile Mokono said.

"A portion of this land will have to remain in use by the SANDF. The SANDF and the public works department will have to decide which one of them will pay the lease to the community," Mr Mokono said.

He said the community wanted to use the land now, but a lot of work still had to be done, like subdividing and erecting a fence to control the spread of foot and mouth disease across the border.

Chairman of the Gumbu Land Claim Committee Nelson Masikwa said the SANDF wanted to use 2 500 hectares of the land, which he said was too big.

"We want the SANDF to leave so that we can go on making a living. We understand the land has minerals such as diamonds, which we can mine and make a living for ourselves," Masikwa said.

"We also need to have access to the part where we can get water for our livestock from the Limpopo River."

The community was removed from the land in the 1960s when it was used as a buffer zone to counter the movements of liberation fighters from South Africa to Zimbabwe.

The community rejected offers from the government to buy them alternative land. They were the first community in the country to protest against the slow pace of land reform and invaded the land in 1999 with the help of land rights NGO, Nkuzi Development Association.