Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

General accused of groping female colleague in a Stockholm hotel

A sexual harassment case against a general has led to renewed calls for a review of the military justice system, amid concerns that the case has dragged on for three years.

Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge said yesterday the case against SA National Defence Force inspector-general Major-General Mxolisi Petane was taking too long.

She was also concerned that Petane was promoted earlier this year to his current rank, in contravention of military policy.

Madlala-Routledge said she had raised her concerns with Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George over fears that military courts were not equipped to deal with this kind of case.

The complainant worked for Madlala-Routledge when she was deputy defence minister. Petane is a prominent former Umkhonto weSizwe soldier and highly regarded in Cape Town.

He stands accused of groping the woman’s breasts and rubbing up against her while he was the military attache to Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The alleged incident took place in a Stockholm hotel room as a South African delegation was preparing to meet its Swedish counterparts for defence talks in October 2003.

Madlala-Routledge said she had been following the case and was very concerned about the delays.

She said Petane’s promotion from brigadier-general to major-general had weakened the prosecution’s case.

This was because it was now more difficult for the required two assessors of the same rank, culture and military background to be found.

Shortly after his promotion, Petane, requested the use of two assessors to ensure that he would be given a fair trial.

Court manager Lieutenant-Colonel Tebogo Mufahothe confirmed yesterday that Petane had not been eligible for promotion under current military policy.

“He is supposedly unpromotable,” Mufahothe said, describing it as an “obvious oversight”.

When he appeared briefly in the Thaba Tshwane military court on Tuesday, the case against Petane was again postponed, as a result of the prosecution’s inability to provide two assessors.

Case prosecutor Captain Desmond Thanjekwayo argued in court that there were only a few eligible major-generals in the defence force.

Of these, most indicated that they knew Petane or were friendly with him, Thanjekwayo reportedly told presiding military judge Colonel Brian Plaatjies.

Plaatjies is reported to have warned the prosecution that if two assessors were not found before the hearing resumes on January 23 and 24, the case would be struck from the roll.

Mufahothe said yesterday he had already approached 12 major-generals.

Three said they were friends, three said they were not available for yesterday’s hearing and the others simply said no.

But he was confident he would find the required assessors before the trial continues. “We are still fishing for assessors. We will get them. We have to get them, even if it means the intervention of various people,” he said.

Madlala-Routledge said yesterday that George had confessed he knew nothing about Petane’s irregular promotion and would investigate the circumstances under which it had taken place.

Meanwhile this week’s hearing has left the complainant angry and bitter, with her questioning why she was made to feel like the guilty party.

“Why has this case dragged on for three years?” she asked, noting that she was forced to sit outside the court before the delayed court proceedings started.

“He was also not properly marched into court, as the accused normally are. It was all about him and how the proceedings were inconveniencing him and his career,” she said.

She also noted that there had not been any women in court; not even a member of the SANDF chief directorate of equal opportunities had made an appearance to offer support.

Madlala-Routledge said military courts had obviously not kept pace with the transformation that was taking place in courts around the country concerning gender sensitivity.

“The total absence of any females in the military justice system dealing with the case is a matter of concern.”

She said there were moves afoot to “civilianise” military courts, which had so far ignored the standards of the outside world.

The Defence Ministry would not comment yesterday, and Petane could not be reached for comment.

A senior Defence Force general has escaped trial so far for sexual harassment because he was illegally promoted.

The case has been dragging on for three years since a woman accused him of groping her breasts and rubbing up against her while he was the military attache to Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Under military law he is entitled to ask for two assessors of the same rank, culture and military background to hear his case with a military judge.

But so far the defence force has met with no success in finding officers with high enough rank.

Three of the 12 asked to hear his case said they were his friends, another three said they were unavailable and the other six said no.

Now Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge has taken up the woman’s complaint.

She said yesterday the case against SANDF inspector-general Major-General Mxolisi Petane was taking too long.

She was also concerned that Petane was promoted earlier this year to his current rank, in contravention of military policy.

Madlala-Routledge said she had raised her concerns with Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George over fears that military courts were not equipped to deal with this kind of case.

The complainant worked for Madlala-Routledge when she was deputy defence minister.

Petane is a prominent former Umkhonto weSizwe soldier and is highly regarded in Cape Town.

The alleged incident took place in a Stockholm hotel room as a South African delegation was preparing to meet its Swedish counterparts for defence talks in October 2003.

Madlala-Routledge said she had been following the case and was very concerned about the delays.

She said Petane’s promotion from brigadier-general to major-general had weakened the prosecution’s case.

This was because it was now more difficult to find assessors of the same rank, culture and military background.

Shortly after his promotion, Petane requested the presence of two assessors to ensure that he would be given a fair trial.

Court manager Lieutenant-Colonel Tebogo Mufahothe confirmed yesterday that Petane had not been eligible for promotion under current military policy.

“He is supposedly unpromotable,” Mufahothe said, describing it as an “obvious oversight”.

When he appeared briefly in the Thaba Tshwane military court on Tuesday, the case against Petane was again postponed, as a result of the prosecution’s inability to provide two assessors.

Prosecutor Captain Desmond Thanjekwayo argued in court that there were only a few eligible major-generals in the defence force.

Of these, most indicated that they knew Petane or were friendly with him, Thanjekwayo reportedly told presiding military judge Colonel Brian Plaatjies.

Plaatjies is reported to have warned the prosecution that if two assessors were not found before the hearing resumes on January 23 and 24, the case would be struck from the roll.

Mufahothe said he was confident he would find the required assessors before the trial continues. “We are still fishing for assessors. We will get them. We have to get them, even if it means the intervention of various people,” he said.

Madlala-Routledge said George had admitted he knew nothing about Petane’s irregular promotion and would investigate the circumstances under which it was taken.

Meanwhile this week’s hearing has left the complainant angry and bitter, with her questioning why she was made to feel like the guilty party.

“Why has this case dragged on for three years?” she asked, noting that she was forced to sit outside the court before the delayed court proceedings started.

“He was also not properly marched into court, as the accused normally are. It was all about him and how the proceedings were inconveniencing him and his career,” she said.

She also noted that there had not been any women in court; not even a member of the SANDF chief directorate of equal opportunities had made an appearance to offer support.

Madlala-Routledge said military courts had obviously not kept pace with the transformation that was taking place in courts around the country concerning gender sensitivity.

“The total absence of any females in the military justice system dealing with the case is a matter of concern.”

She said there were moves afoot to “civilianise” military courts, which had so far ignored the standards of the outside world.

The Defence Ministry would not comment yesterday, and Petane could not be reached for comment.

The defence force was silent on Thursday on a possible investigation into the promotion of a top general who stands accused of sexual harassment.

Defence spokesman Sam Mkhwanazi would not comment on the possibility of an investigation into allegations that SANDF inspector-general Major General Mxolisi Petane had been promoted in contravention of military policy.

He described reports on the investigation as inaccurate because the media did not contact Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George who is reportedly heading the investigation.

The Cape Argus reported on Thursday that George would investigate the circumstances in which Petane was promoted while his case was pending in a military court.

Petane who on Tuesday appeared in a military court in Thaba Tshwane outside Pretoria is accused of sexual harassment.

Beeld reported on Wednesday that Petane allegedly grabbed the breasts of the then deputy minister of defence Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge's unnamed assistant while they were on an official trip to Sweden. He apparently also pressed himself up against her.

The paper said that his case might be dropped because the prosecution is struggling to find two of his peers in the military to act as assessors in the case. The case against him has been dragging on in the military court for three years.

"It is the state's duty to find the assessors, we cannot keep the man hostage," the military judge colonel Brian Plaatjies said. He granted a final postponement of Petane's case to give the state more time to come up with assessors.

Madlala-Routledge told the Cape Argus that Petane had been promoted in contravention of military policy.

She believes Petane's promotion, from Brigadier-Gneral to Major General, had weakened the prosecution's case because it was now more difficult to find two assessors of the same rank, culture and military background.

In the past 18 months the Military Police have investigated thousands of their colleagues in the SANDF for a myriad of criminal offences, including the alleged breaching of international military laws.

The revelation comes amid opposition calls in Parliament for President Thabo Mbeki to appoint someone with the political will to ensure that discipline and professionalism are restored in the SANDF.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, in reply to parliamentary questions, said that between April 2005 and September 3 this year, 891 crimes had been reported to the Military Police Agency. The alleged crimes were committed both within and outside South Africa.

These offences include the breaching of several international agreements with the United Nations and the African Union. The breaches are believed to include, among others, at least 400 cases of sexual offences and the theft of military equipment.

These cases, according to the SANDF, do not include crimes committed by SA troops which were reported to the SAPS, the UN or the AU.

Adding to these criminal cases are another 3 377 unfinalised cases that were carried over from the 2004/05 financial year.

Of the 7 268 cases currently being investigated, military and civilian courts finalised 1 091 cases in the past 18 months, leaving 5 968 cases still to be investigated and prosecuted.

The cases reported to Military Police between April 2005 and September, said Lekota in reply to DA questions, included 1 106 cases of theft, 391 house burglaries and 272 cases of common assault.

DA defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said the Auditor-General had “hit the nail on the head” in several of his reports over the past couple of years when he raised concerns about serious problems relating to poor personnel and asset management within the SANDF.

He said: “It is the poor management skills, as well as the lack of investigative resources, that are causing this criminal crisis within the defence force.

“It is clear that the Military Police are completely under-resourced when it comes to successfully investigating crimes committed by their colleagues.”

Jankielsohn, who added that the SANDF was fast becoming a haven for criminals, said if criminality was to be stamped out within the SANDF then Lekota needed to take drastic steps to bring back discipline to the defence force.

“It is clear from the high number of cases being reported to the Military Police that there is a complete lack of discipline within the SANDF.

“The minister has to show a lot more interest in his portfolio and play a more active role in supplying the defence force management with the necessary political and strategic direction if criminality is to be stamped out in the SANDF,” said Jankielsohn, adding that the key deterrent would be the certainty of punishment.

He said criminal activity was flourishing within the defence force because troops knew that they could get away with their crimes and need not fear prosecution.

“If the minister is unwilling or unable to take responsibility, the President needs to appoint someone who has the political will to ensure discipline and professionalism within our national defence force,” he said.

Defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

For many years, the military particularly in Botswana has been regarded as a man's domain but a South African woman colonel has demonstrated to Batswana women aspiring to join the BDF that the army is not all about guns and shooting, reports Staff Writer KETO SEGWAI

Since the new commander of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Lieutenant General Tebogo Masire, announced the possible induction of women in the military as early as next year, there has been profound interest characterised by animated debates both at places of work and social gatherings.

Though many dismiss the announcement as one of those many false starts, a few are optimistic that at long last women will be afforded an opportunity to serve their country in the army and obviously increase their chances of securing permanent employment. Just last year, the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Phandu Skelemani, raised our womenfolk's hopes - albeit prematurely.

Amid deafening and consistent calls for inclusion of women in the military, the authorities have always come up with flimsy excuses, the classical one being lack of accommodation. This is puzzling in that logically, where there is a need for facilities - you construct them.

It is also puzzling in that despite Botswana's liberal democracy credentials, it still remains one of the three countries in the 14-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc that has no women in the military. The others are Mauritius and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the August 2006 SADC data, Tanzania, South Africa and Zimbabwe top the list with slightly more than 20 percent women in their military. Others with sizeable percentages are Namibia (14), Swaziland (10), and Lesotho (8.5).

It appears ironic that former colleagues at the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (UBLS), have gone on to curve out military careers for themselves, while their Batswana counterparts were denied such an opportunity!

Batswana women's interest in military vocation was whetted during the regional exercises the BDF hosted under the Thokgamo theme in Maun in July last year, in which women soldiers from other countries were prominent participants.

This interest is also evident in the kind of attention Colonel Maria Elizabeth van Wyk attracts whenever she ventures out, in her military uniform, to a local supermarket for a sandwich in Gaborone. Colonel van Wyk (Elsa) is a Defence Adviser at the South African High Commission in Gaborone. She also participated in the Thokgamo manoeuvre last year.

Often on such walk-abouts, she will be mobbed by curious women admirers, bombarding her with questions related to her rather unusual career - at least in Botswana. Friendly-fired volleys would normally include: "Why did you choose to become a soldier? Is it a though job it's made out to be? Do you handle heavy guns?"

The Ermelo-born military attache, obviously due to her diplomatic demeanour, has been patient to field the questions from some of these military-career aspirants. This army veteran, with 26 years of service under her belt, is quick to dispel the notion that the military career is all about guns and shooting.

"There is more to the defence. Generally, the defence force has a wide range of fields or specialisations. In the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), for instance, we have four main arms of service, namely the army, air-force, navy and military health services," noted van Wyk.

Even these arms of services have various corps that handle different tasks, she explained. The army has several corps that includes signals, infantry, artillery, armour, engineers, ordinance, catering and personnel services. Signal corps is charged with communications, radars, information technology and related matters, while the infantry generally comprises the ground troops. The armour corps is tasked with operation of tanks and armoured vehicles while engineer corps deal with landmines, bridge construction, provision of water and others.

"The catering corps are just as important, as soldiers have to operate on full stomachs to be able to execute their assignments effectively," she added. Col van Wyk noted that initially, women were confined to specific corps such as personnel services (administration), signals, ordinance (logistics that include procurement), and to work as nurses. However, the other corps and other arms of service were gradually opened up after the 1994 historic all-race elections. That was the year South Africa ushered in the democratic dispensation. She pointed out that for instance there are currently 1,050 women in the air force.

The forerunner to SANDF, the South African Defence Force (SADF), started women induction in their military in 1971, and van Wyk was fortunate to enrol at the women's college in George, eight years later. After training as a junior leader, she transferred to army gymnasium in Heidelberg.

Since that time, Colonel Van Wyk's military career has been characterised by firsts and commendable achievements. For instance, she was appointed as training officer for the first group of women to train outside George in 1986.

After the 1994 democratic dispensation, when the integration of defence forces took place, she was given the overall responsibility of integrating women training in the signals corps. This was followed by participating in a year-long senior command and staff course in 1999 - a male-dominated undertaking. Other eight women out of a total of 75 attended the course. It included studies in geo-politics, national and international economic perspectives, art of a command and operation art, and conventional and peacekeeping operational planning cycles.

At the end of the course, she was appointed - the first woman at that - to command exercise Zenith. "That did not prove difficult, though admittedly challenging. It was not difficult in that I had been in the course all along with my male counterparts and probably I had earned their respect during that phase. The only challenge is to integrate all the arms of service under a single command.

"It was a situation of having guys in blue air force uniform, white navy uniform and beige/red health services uniform being told what to do with their planes, ships and all, by a woman in a brown army uniform. But really, what matters is the understanding of the core principles of operation. We passed the test."

The successful execution of that exercise obviously led to her promotion to full colonel in 2000. The new position came with the added responsibility of being charged with spearheading integration of blacks and whites within the signals corps. "The team spirit was very good, and camaraderie was so amazing."

Four years down the line, Colonel van Wyk was posted to Gaborone as a South Africa's military attache - and the only other woman serving as an attache is based in Italy.

This colonel - who speaks English, Afrikaans, Zulu and German - has her primary goal to represent SANDF's chief of defence in terms of promoting opportunities for joint training, exchange programmes, linking up defence industry in SA with businesses here for the supply of equipment. She also liaises with other defence attaches based in Botswana.

Does she get the necessary salutation when she visits the local barracks, which obviously do not have women in their ranks? "Oh yes. The BDF and us have similar ranks, so I am accorded the necessary salutations, though often times there is confusion over the use of sir instead of mum - which is basically the British system.

"In SA we use 'good morning colonel or captain or whatever the rank for the greetings. But when chatting then we use sir or mum." What message does she have for Botswana women aspiring to join the army? "If a woman is doing her job well, she will definitely earn the respect of her male counterparts. I am not talking here of the window-dressing types."

And apparently women in the SANDF have been working very hard to break the class ceiling, and highest of them occupies the number three spot in the military hierarchy as a major-general.

Colonel van Wyk concludes that though Botswana has lost time in inducting women in the military, on the positive side she stands to benefit by adopting the best practices from her neighbours. The country does not need to necessarily re-invent the wheel.

A man shot dead his girlfriend and then shot himself in his Durban home on Monday, police said.

Police spokesman Michael Read said the 35-year-old man shot his girlfriend, Nomakhosi Gumede, 28, in the head before turning the gun on himself.

Details were not immediately available but Read said the man was a member of the SA National Defence Force.

Gumede died at the scene at the Durban North house. The man was airlifted to Durban's St Augustine hospital, where, said Netcare 911 spokesman Chris Botha, he was in a critical condition.

There were three small children in the house at the time of the shooting.

A murder docket had been opened, said Read.

Lekota defends medal for convicted soldier Parliamentary Editor CAPE TOWN The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has honoured a soldier who has convictions for illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and for fraud.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota insists the soldier's award for services to the department and the country will not be withdrawn even though there was full knowledge of his criminal record. In reply to a written question from Democratic Alliance MP Hendrik Schmidt yesterday, Lekota said the convictions and sentence were known to the SANDF before the September 1 medal parade. The person (who was not named) was charged and convicted by a civilian court on two counts of fraud relating to a fraudulent BA degree in communication and a senior diploma in human resource and public relations management, Lekota said. He was also charged and convicted for possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition. On the two counts of fraud, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, suspended for five years. On the counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, he was fined R5000. The soldier has not faced a departmental disciplinary charge for either matter. Lekota said the soldier had explained the circumstances of his convictions and his subsequent dissatisfaction about those convictions. He did not elaborate. Schmidt implored the SANDF to take disciplinary action against the soldier, saying he should be dishonourably discharged.

It is deeply worrying that, despite knowing about the convictions, the SANDF was prepared to go ahead and make the award.

Four people were killed and another four seriously injured in a collision near St Lucia on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, provincial authorities said on Friday.

KwaZulu-Natal health spokesman Leon Mbangwa said four people were killed in a collision between two light motor vehicles on Thursday night.

Another four were seriously injured.

The four injured people were taken to Empangeni Garden Clinic by the province's emergency rescue service.

There were initial reports that the four killed were South African National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel, but this could not be immediately confirmed.

Meanwhile 18 people were injured in an accident involving a minibus on the N2 highway near Ballito on Friday morning. One of those was reported to be in a serious condition. Mbangwa said all the injured were taken to the Stanger provincial hospital.

In another minibus accident on Friday morning two people were critically injured and another seriously injured on the R34 road near Vryheid.

The Minister of Defence, in his official capacity, has agreed to pay R30 000 to a former major in the army who said he had been falsely charged with defrauding the SANDF some 11 years ago.

James Moorcroft said in papers before the Pretoria High Court that he had been a professional soldier holding the rank of major and attached to the Infantry School, Oudtshoorn. He was later transferred to army headquarters in Pretoria and left the SANDF in 1998.

Moorcroft said that on November 6 1995, while he was still at the Infantry School, a member of the SANDF falsely charged him with fraud, alternatively theft.

It was claimed that he had defrauded the SANDF by claiming R3 901 for resettlement costs.

The army stated that Moorcroft on a previous occasion claimed this money and that he was not entitled to claim it again.

Moorcroft said if the army cared to investigate this “disinformation” it would have realised that he had in fact done nothing wrong. Instead, he said, the army went ahead with pressing charges without properly investigating the matter.

He was court-martialled at the request of the SANDF. The court martial proceedings were, however, terminated without being formally withdrawn, Moorcroft said.

The SANDF then placed the “false” information before the senior prosecutor in Oudtshoorn and he was subsequently charged in the Magistrate’s Court.

Moorcroft said he had to appear in that court on about five occasions.

He said the trial took place in Oudtshoorn, a town where he was well known to members of the Infantry School.

His name was eventually cleared on November 17 1999 when he was discharged due to a lack of evidence.

Moorcroft said he had spent nearly R93 000 in legal costs and he claimed this amount back from the minister.

He also claimed a further R50 000 for the damage to his reputation.

The SANDF denied that Moorcroft was maliciously prosecuted, but agreed to pay him R20 000 in damages and another R10 000 as a contribution towards his legal costs in the criminal trial.

A high-ranking South African peacekeeper who was stationed in the DRC and charged with sexually abusing his teenage male interpreter has appeared in a military court.

The sexual misconduct case against 45-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Koos van Breda, the officer commanding the frontline 2 SA Infantry Battalion when the incident took place in September 2003, went before the Thaba Tshwane Military Court in Pretoria yesterday.

A UN investigation into the allegations made by Van Breda’s accuser – one of seven sexual misconduct boards of inquiry against South African peacekeepers in the past two years – slammed the lack of action taken by the South African contingent in dealing with the boy’s claims as “inappropriate”. Van Breda has served with the SANDF for 25 years. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The South African peacekeepers in Darfur who were threatening to pull out over non-payment have been temporarily placated.

A delegation sent from El Fasher camp to the Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum, returned yesterday with the good tidings.

SA Police Service members based in the western region of the war-torn country were told that the African Union (AU) would settle their allowances for September with immediate effect.

The peacekeepers embarked on a sit-in on Sunday and refused to participate in parades unless they had been paid. The AU, which is supposed to pick up the tab for troops sent on their peacekeeping missions, had not paid the soldiers’ allowances for three months.

A source said the AU had made a commitment to immediately pay the allowances for September and undertook to settle the outstanding monies by the end of the month.

“The people were getting fed-up. They want to go home for Christmas,” the source said.

The AU mission in Sudan, which started in 2004 with 150 troops, has buckled under financial strain after the force was increased to 7 000.

Its mandate expired in September, but the Darfur Peace Agreement Joint Commission urged it to continue until at least the end of next month.

South Africa has 398 SANDF and 126 SAPS members in Darfur.

The mission in the Sudan is the first AU peacekeeping effort and is sponsored by member countries and international donors.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) demonstrated its airborne capabilities on Friday and used the opportunity to assess how it could improve in order to better equip the army.

The annual "Exercise Young Eagle" demonstration took place in Bloemfontein with more than 1500 soldiers from various parts of the country taking part in the exercise.

The objectives of Exercise Young Eagle include the successful integration of all the airborne and supporting units, as a rapid, combat-ready reaction force that can be deployed at any time.

Chief of the South African Army Lt General Solly Shoke encouraged school children who had been invited to witness the exercise, to focus on their studies as the army wanted dedicated people in its ranks.

The exercise included fixed wing assault landings with parachutes and helicopter assault operations.

Different helicopters with various capabilities took part in the exercise, among these the C130 aircraft which was used by the paratroopers.

The exercise was based on the scenario of a rapid, airborne mobile assault over a distance, which according to the SANDF, is very important when they are urgently requested to assist in African Union peace keeping operations.

In October, the SANDF conducted a similar training operation in Lohatlha in the Northern Cape dubbed "Exercise Seboka."

In that exercise, the army demonstrated brigade defensive firepower and the application of a mobile defence technique.

The training terrains were developed and adapted to accommodate the specific requirements of different army units, to achieve training aims in the execution of modern mobile combat exercises.

This was to assess the army's facilities, technology and quality of training.

SOUTH Africa’s peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan, hangs in the balance as members of the SA Police Service (SAPS) have embarked on a sit-in because their allowances have not been paid for three months.

The police, who members of the African Union mission in Sudan, have dispatched a delegation to the South African embassy in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in an effort to resolve the pay dispute.

The African Union (AU) is responsible for paying the allowances of the peacekeepers, drawn from several African countries.

The South African government has deployed a contingent that includes 398 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) personnel and 126 SAPS members.

Mission director Daniel Monyane confirmed that the South Africans had downed tools yesterday and begun a sit-in as well as a boycott of all the parades.

“They are very unhappy because they have not been paid their allowances. I have written letters to Addis Ababa (the AU headquarters, in Ethiopia), but have not had a satisfactory response,” Monyane said.

The Cape Times understands that the peacekeepers from Ghana pulled out a month ago following the same problem of non-payment.

One member said the AU had treated the South Africans poorly.

“I am disciplined but we are not being treated well here,” he said.

He said that even senior members stayed in crumbling structures without basic furniture and amenities.

“There is absolutely no co-ordination and the sit-in is a desperate measure to get answers from the AU. People have reached the end of their patience here and others have even threatened to take the AU to court for non-payment.”

The mission was founded in 2004 with 150 members. This number had been increased to the present 7 000 by mid-2005.

The cash-strapped organisation’s mandate in Darfur expired in September, but is continuing as the conflict grows.

The South African portfolio committee on foreign affairs has warned that keeping soldiers in Darfur is not inexpensive and that the country has spent about R100 million out of the SANDF budget.

Kingsley Makhubela, Department of Foreign Affairs chief director for East Africa, warned in March that the AU did not have adequate funds to continue the operation in Darfur and that donor countries were not willing to continue to contribute.

EIGHT South Africans are missing in Iraq and at least 17 have been killed there since 2003.

Despite the danger and looming legislation that will outlaw South Africans working in “countries in conflict”, thousands of former policemen and soldiers are still working in the war-torn country.

Morne Pieterse became the latest South African casualty when he was killed in Basra on October 30. The South African diplomatic mission in Kuwait confirmed his death. Pieterse was working for Hart Security Company as a convoy leader. Pieterse’s team was escorting an engineer to Basra when an explosive detonated, killing him.

Apart from the 17 confirmed deaths, the Department of Foreign Affairs said there were also eight South Africans missing – presumed dead – in Iraq.

Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, Nomfanelo Kota, confirmed at the weekend the department was in contact with the missing men’s families.

“The families know they are missing and the circumstances of their disappearance. We are dealing on a confidential, one-on-one basis with the families. We cannot release the names of the missing men. The families are free to speak to the media, if they want to, but we are handling the situation confidentially,” said Kota.

Kota said they did not know how many South Africans were working in Iraq. “We know they are working for various private companies. The companies are mostly based in the US and the UK,” said Kota.

According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website, the South Africans who had been killed worked for companies including Dyncorp International, Olive Security, Erinys International and the South African-based Omega Risk Solution. Omega has since pulled out of Iraq.

Four of the men were killed by suicide bombers while the others were killed in other types of attacks and roadside bombs.

Since the start of the war, at least 371 private contractors have been killed in Iraq. More than 2 865 US and UK soldiers have been killed in the same period.

According to men working in Iraq, there are about 8 000 South Africans serving as security contractors or consultants in Iraq.

The new law is also likely to make it illegal to work in Iraq but, despite this, security companies are still actively recruiting security staff in South Africa, targeting members of the military and police specialised units.

The Prohibition of Mercenary Activity and Regulation of Certain Activities in Countries of Armed Conflict Bill is expected to be signed into law before the end of the year by President Thabo Mbeki. It is intended to close the loopholes used by former policemen and former soldiers wanting to do security work in war-torn countries.

Once the bill has been passed the out-of-bounds countries must be identified and listed in the Government Gazette. For a country to be classified as regulated for the purposes of the new Mercenary Activity Act the government’s national conventional arms control committee must inform the cabinet that a conflict exists or is imminent in that country.

While money is the main drawcard, many of the men working in Iraq have said they joined up as they saw no future in the South African Defence Force or police services.

Said one of the men currently working in Iraq: “It is sad, but we have no option. I was in the SANDF and my career’s officer told me that there was no future as a white officer in the army. So I took the package. I could not get a job for eight months. Now I have a sound job in Iraq, but the government once again wants to put a stop to my survival. What about our constitutional right to life and work?”

Other South Africans are also actively looking for opportunities in Iraq by posting their details on private military websites. Meanwhile, the families of the missing men continue the wait for news of their loved-one’s fate.

The Burundi murder trial of SA Air Force Sergeant Flippie Venter will be concluded in South Africa, a court in Bujumbura ruled yesterday.

Venter, who has already been convicted in South Africa of the murder of his two children and the attempted murder of his wife, is accused of raping and strangling teenage Burundian prostitute Therese Nkeshimana (14) on September 20 2004.

He is also accused of assaulting a hotel security guard that night who refused to give him and the girl a room and allegedly tried to bribe the taxi driver who was the last to see him and the girl.

In another charge against Venter it is claimed that he did not report back to his base before curfew that night. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The court was yesterday supposed to hear arguments before judgment, but it was told that Venter’s lawyer Patrick Loots did not make the trip to Burundi as Venter has run out of money.

This was one of the reasons Venter gave when he asked the military court to move the trial to Pretoria.

Addressing the court in leg-irons, Venter read a statement.

“On the previous occasion I was prepared for the trial to be finalised. I had funds and Loots was ready to proceed. I feel it is the prosecution’s fault that we did not finish.

“Lieutenant Colonel (Tinus) Kleyn (the prosecutor) was several times not ready and often we only started at 2pm,” Venter claimed.

He insisted that his lawyer, Jenny Brewers, and Loots continue defending him, especially as they indicated that they would do it for free. “But I cannot expect Loots to come here at his own expense,” the accused said.

According to him Kleyn suggested that Loots ask to be called up as a member of the SANDF’s reserve force to Burundi to enable him to attend the trial.

Apparently Loots was told this would be a “mere formality”. But on November 1 a military defence counsellor visited Venter in jail, saying she was appointed to defend him.

“It is clear Kleyn does not want Loots to finalise this case for me. Loots was willing to live at the military base. These costs would have been nothing compared to what this case has already cost the State,” Venter read.

If found guilty, he would want to call experts in mitigation of sentence and hand in pre-sentence reports. This could not be done in Burundi, Venter said.

Chief Judge Colonel Johan Crouse said neither Loots nor Brewers attended the postponements in Pretoria due to a lack of funds. Now the court was being told they would continue for free.

He said Venter should contact Loots in the presence of the officer in command of the satellite legal office in Burundi to confirm this.

The court found there was no legal reason why the arguments in the case should be heard in Burundi, as the local witnesses had already testified. “The case will be postponed to December 15 in Thaba Tshwane,” Crouse concluded.

SA NATIONAL DEFENCE FORCE The colour of their skills To show progress with transformation and rejuvenation of the military, the defence ministry regularly releases statistics showing the SA National Defence Force's (SANDF) racial profile. What is not readily apparent from these statistics, though, is the effect that transformation is having on the skills base and capabilities of the SANDF.

For instance, in August defence secretary January Masilela disclosed that 1189 members had left the SANDF under the voluntary mobility exit mechanism (MEM) that was instituted in August 2005. About 75% were white, 15% black, 7% coloured and 3% Indian.

This was a good thing, Masilela said, because it was opening posts mostly occupied by ageing white males, thus enabling black and women soldiers to move up into middle management positions notably the ranks of captain, major, colonel and brigadier general.

At the same time, Masilela assured parliament's defence committee that the military authorities were guarding against the exodus of scarce skills. But he offered no statistics on how these skills were either being retained or augmented.

Yet, last week defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota admitted in reply to a parliamentary question from DA military spokesman Roy Jankielsohn that while the defence force could recruit pilots and technicians to replace those leaving, it could not compensate for the loss in advanced levels of experience.

Lekota disclosed that 535 air force technicians and 70 pilots had resigned from 2004 to date.

Jankielsohn said it was clear that the SA Air Force faced a skills crisis; it would not be able to find suitably qualified personnel to fly and service the advanced aircraft coming into service over the next several years. He blamed the MEM and the racial quotas.

The 2006 defence annual report shows the SANDF had vacancies in nearly 37% of aircrew posts, 39% of engineers, 34% of all technical posts and 24% of airspace control positions by March 31 this year (see table).

But such data can be misleading, says the SANDF's director of human resource planning Brig Gen Dries de Wit. That's because the vacancies are calculated on a full force complement that would be required in a war scenario, with about 98000 soldiers instead of the current 75750. So the vacancies appear more severe than they really are.

In reality, the SANDF vacancy rates are not much worse than those of the private sector, though the defence force will always struggle to compete with private-sector salary packages. At the end of the day, it's the love of military life that makes someone want to sign up with the SANDF, De Wit says.

The MEM, he says, is just part of a broader strategy to balance quality and quantity in the military. It must be viewed in conjunction with the military skills development (MSD) programme, which is bringing young recruits into the SANDF at a rate of 4000-4400/year. While the MSD draws in youth and fresh qualifications at entry level, the MEM aims to help ageing and stagnating personnel to leave, on a voluntary basis, at the upper end of the force.

One quick benefit has been the reduction of the average age of soldiers in lower ranks. In 2002 the average age of privates was 33 years. Now 47% are 30 or younger, and 42% are in the ideal age bracket of 18-24, compared with only 7% four years ago.

The SANDF receives upwards of 20000 MSD applicants each year, and since it can afford to pick and choose, it can insist on higher educational qualifications. For instance, all 200-300 recruits to the air force must have at least a matric pass with maths and science, says De Wit.

Meanwhile, for older soldiers the MEM provides voluntary withdrawal, including mentoring, succession planning, skills assessment and skills training under the military service corps.

To limit the loss of skills, De Wit says final agreement on MEM withdrawal lies with the defence force. For instance, of the 1403 MEM applicants that have been approved to date, 104 will be leaving in 2007 and two in 2008.

De Wit admits that a dearth of young white recruits in the MSD is cause for concern currently just 3,7% of privates are white, compared with 88,5% black. As a result, the SANDF has drawn up a personnel procurement strategy to market the force as an employer of choice among university students and school-leavers.

The SANDF has achieved its racial representativity goals in 2005. We have, in fact, exceeded the overall goals laid down in the Defence Review, so there is no reason why a white soldier joining today should not progress right to the top, De Wit says.

The dangers of underfunding Do we need a defence force? In terms of an external threat to our territorial sovereignty, not at the moment. But it's an uncertain world, and history is full of wars that were not predicted. A politician's calculation of what is in his country's best interests (or his own) is not necessarily rational, or the one that would be made for him by expert economists or political scientists. Just look at how Robert Mugabe has ruined the Zimbabwean economy.

Clausewitz, the great German philosopher of war, pointed out that war is a clash between major interests that is resolved by bloodshed that is the only way it differs from other conflicts. Statesmen through the ages have calculated that they can gain more by going to war than by remaining at peace. The fact that so often they are wrong has not prevented the risk being undertaken.

And societies are not fixed in stone. Political geography changes and stable democracies can be destabilised. Submerged issues can suddenly provoke conflict, such as ethnic hostilities, or food and water security. A balanced defence force is an insurance policy to prevent a country being taken hostage by the future. If an army is not there when you need it, it cannot simply be created from scratch.

The primary purpose of a defence force, of course, is to protect a country against attack. In the case of internal conflict unthinkable in SA at present, but not impossible in the future it is ultimately the guardian of the constitution.

But it must pay its way by taking on other useful work, notably as an instrument of foreign policy even when no obvious military threat is on the distant horizon. For SA, for instance, there is participation in African Union and United Nations tasks. Clearly this is a role for which the present SA government rightly has an appetite, and it is not one that a major continental power such as SA can easily escape if it wants to be taken seriously.

Then there is the support that only a disciplined, well-equipped, rapidly deployable defence force can provide to civil society in times of emergency, such as flooding and other natural disasters, or aviation and maritime accidents.

In theory the SA National Defence Force meets these requirements. Drawing on a long and sensible military tradition of citizen armies in SA, it is designed as a small regular force that provides continuity and training, but can be rapidly expanded as needed by the call-up of reservists.

In practice, however, the SANDF's reserves have been starved for 15 years of funds, and peacekeeping commitments in Africa with their considerable logistical and human resources challenges were not planned for. To make matters worse, SA's defence budget has been declining steadily in real terms since 1994. It's true there have been substantial hardware acquisitions, especially for the navy and air force. The trouble is that this was capital expenditure, without realistic provision for the costs of manning and maintaining the new equipment. And there are fears that the imperatives of transformation are inducing too many skilled and experienced officers and men to leave the military.

As a country, we seem to be in the schizophrenic position of understanding the need for a defence force, but being unwilling to provide the money to enable it to do its job. As a result, we run the risk of ending up with an overstretched, demoralised and poorly equipped force that is, a source of political destabilisation, rather than a safeguard against it.

A row has blown up over the transfer of three white trainee fighter pilots at the South African Air Force’s flight training school.

But during the announcement at SA Air Force’s Langebaanweg Flight Training School in the Western Cape, senior air force officials, including South African Air Force (SAAF) Chief Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano, hit back at critics, saying no one was being shelved or sidelined.

The three, who are to be replaced by black pilots, were to learn to be fighter pilots while receiving training on South Africa’s new fighter trainer the Hawk.

The Hawk, which replaced the SAAF’s Impalas, is to be used to train the country’s fighter pilots who will fly the newly acquired Grippen fighter jets.

The SAAF has been instructed that 75% of its pilots must be black and 25% white.

The three pilots have been told that they could now either become helicopter or transport aircraft pilots.

South African National Defence Union (SANDU) acting national secretary Pikkie Greef said that chasing away aspiring young fighter pilots because of their skin colour was absolutely ridiculous.

He said: “We think it is blatantly unfair and believe the SANDF has no legal justification for what they are doing.

“SANDU believes this is going to cause widespread dissatisfaction both within the SANDF and among the public whose taxes have gone towards buying billions of rands worth of military hardware needed to protect the country and its interests,” he said.

Agreeing with this view, Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said the move meant that the correct people needed to fly the Hawks and Grippens would not be sitting in the cockpits.

Democratic Alliance deputy defence spokesperson Hendrik Schmidt said the party understood the reasons for affirmative action, “but it is ridiculous to say that students, who are top of their class, have been training hard and have proven themselves in their studies, are to be replaced halfway through their course by someone who is not as good.

“This boils down to the fact that you are appointing people who are unable to do the job to the standards required,” said Schmidt.

Gagiano said it had never been the SAAF’s policy to send only the best pilots to fly fighters.

“We send good pilots along with average pilots to our helicopter, transport and fighter lines so that we can have a good mix throughout the service. We do this because if we only sent good pilots to fly fighters our other flying lines would suffer,” he said, adding that the SAAF had a national imperative to achieve the correct representation within the SAAF.

Gagiano said the current race representation at the SAAFs fighter squadron and combat flying school was 81% white and 19% black.

“This a problem which has led to our intervention so we can get the right balance for us to reach government’s representation requirements of 75% black and 25% white pilots,” he said. Trainee pilots were not being sidelined or shelved because of race.

With Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang out of the limelight due to illness, her deputy, Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, has stepped out of the shadows with a fresh take on HIV/Aids.

Madlala-Routledge exudes a quiet but powerful confidence that stems from a set of unshakeable beliefs.

“There has to be integrity and openness in everything that you do. If you show openness, others respond to that,” she explains.

Madlala-Routledge credits her mother, a former school principal, for instilling in her the values that she tries to live by – “honesty, truth, integrity, commitment and courage”.

Her beliefs are cemented by her membership of the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, who believe in pacifism, equality, integrity and simplicity.

These beliefs have enabled her to endure many difficult situations. But she also faced a serious challenge in her first appointment, as a deputy minister for the SANDF – although she advocates non-violence.

“I was interested to find out what the defence force people thought of me being a Quaker, but they were more concerned that I was a woman,” she laughs.

But if the defence force was a challenge, health has been even more so under Tshabalala-Msimang.

In fact there are a number of parallels between the lives of the two women.

Both grew up in KwaZulu-Natal, Madlala-Routledge in uMzumbe on the south coast and the minister at Mfume.

Both finished their schooling at Inanda Seminary, although Tshabalala-Msimang did so a couple of decades before Madlala-Routledge. Both studied for a time at Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape and both wanted to become medical doctors.

But Madlala-Routledge’s dream was shattered when, after being taken under Steve Biko’s wing at Natal University’s medical school, she and others were barred from campus for getting involved in politics.

She went on to study social science, and then did a diploma in medical technology.

It is hard to believe she has been in Tshabalala-Msimang’s shadow for almost three years, and that she has had nothing to do with policy on HIV/Aids.

For the first time ever, two weeks ago a speech made by the deputy minister was put up on the Health Department website.

Despite her low profile, many people who have felt aggrieved by the minister’s treatment of them have found their way to the deputy minister’s door – including Tshabalala-Msimang’s public enemy No 1, the Treatment Action Campaign.

Madlala-Routledge has met TAC officials regularly, because she believes in giving everyone a hearing. Recently she has been able to draw the TAC into government efforts to thrash out a new strategic plan to tackle Aids for the next five years.

The TAC’s general secretary, Sipho Mthati, says Madlala-Routledge has been “instrumental in mediating between us and government”.

In the past few weeks, she has also started to speak out publicly about HIV/Aids. And she says that the space for her to do so has been created by her old friend and comrade, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, who now chairs both the SA National Aids Council and the Inter-ministerial Committee on Aids.

Both were leaders of the Natal Organisation of Women (NOW) in the 1980s.

Madlala-Routledge has great respect for Mlambo-Ngcuka: “One special skill she has is of listening and making people feel we are taking them seriously and this is contributing to the new energy.”

NOW was part of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and helped to mobilise thousands of women against apartheid. As NOW’s organiser, Madlala-Routledge was arrested many times and spent an entire year in detention in solitary confinement.

If she bears scars from this time, they are well hidden. Instead she is now ready to join another struggle, this time against HIV/Aids.

“We beat apartheid, so we will be able to beat HIV and Aids,” she says with characteristic optimism.

The priorities, she says, are to ensure that all those on the waiting list get anti-retroviral (ARV) medicine and that as many people as possible are tested for HIV, so that those who need help can get it.

Madlala-Routledge has spoken out publicly about the death of her two cousins, Thandeka and Phyllis, of Aids-related illnesses.

Both were being treated by private doctors who had not put them on ARVs.

“I took Thandeka to see another GP, who had opened an HIV clinic. When he saw her, he was visibly shaken by her condition and, after calming her down, he prescribed ARVs, which Thandeka took only for a day or two. She gave them up without going back to my GP friend to monitor her side-effect of nausea,” says Madlala-Routledge. Thandeka died a few months later.

In the case of Phyllis, despite the fact that she was sick, her doctor had not had her CD4 count tested. When Madlala-Routledge intervened, the doctor said he would refer her to a government HIV clinic, but she died two days later.

“Both my cousins did not disclose until near the final stages of the disease.

“The sooner people know their HIV status, the sooner they can ask for help and the sooner they can get treatment,” says Madlala-Routledge.

While much of her official business is in Pretoria, her heart is in Cape Town with her husband, Jeremy, and their 17-year-old son Simon, who is writing matric. Their elder son, 24-year-old Martin, works in Johannesburg.

The family moved from Durban to Cape Town in 1994, when Madlala-Routledge became an MP.

“I sometimes have to resort to telephone parenting and that is not easy. But I am a strong believer that women have the right to work, to hold leadership positions,” she says.

Her husband – a friendly, unassuming man with a greying beard – is a quiet pillar of strength and support. A former schoolteacher, he now works for the Phaphama Initiatives and devotes his energy to promoting alternatives to violence.

Despite her busy life, Madlala-Routledge does not give the impression that she is in a rush. She has a strong, calm presence and the ability to give each person she speaks to deep, concentrated attention.

Professor Francie Lund of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, who worked with Madlala-Routledge in the 1980s, describes her as someone who could relate to a wide range of people, even in those politically charged days. – Health-e News Service.

Defence second-in-command Binda dies after surgery International Affairs Editor THE second most senior officer in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), Lt-Gen Sipho Binda, 54, died on Tuesday night after minor surgery following a car accident.

Binda, who was the force's chief of joint operations, was responsible for overseeing all deployments of the defence force, including peacekeeping missions in Africa. He died at One Military Hospital in Pretoria. Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota made the announcement of Binda's death at a meeting of the SA-Botswana joint commission at the International Convention Centre in Durban yesterday.

The cause of death was not divulged but it is believed he suffered heart failure. The defence department is expected to issue a detailed statement later.

Binda became the first commander of an African Union (AU) peace mission three years ago when he was appointed chief of the AU's mission in Burudi. He was appointed chief of joint operations last year after the incumbent in the post, Lt-Gen Godfrey Ngwenya, was promoted to SANDF chief.

Binda was educated at Sekano-Ntoane High School in Soweto and studied at the University of SA. He joined Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC military wing, in 1977. He was arrested and sent to Robben Island for six years in 1984. He served on the command council of the national peacekeeping force from 1993 to 1994, and joined the SANDF in 1994. Binda leaves a wife, two children and two grandchildren.

The court martial of the South African Air Force sergeant accused of murdering and raping a Burundi teenager is expected to continue in Bujumbura, the capital of the country, tomorrow.

It appears that this time Flippie Venter (34) will face the final rounds of his trial without his legal representative.

Since he was arrested for the murder of his two children and the attempted murder of his wife in April this year, Venter has been unable to pay Advocate Patrick Loots, who defended him during the Burundi trial earlier this year.

When he stood trial for the family tragedy in Nelspruit last month, Loots acted on his behalf for free. During that trial, the Nelspruit Circular Court heard that the Burundi case played a huge role in worsening Venter’s psychological condition.

Loots also told the court at the time that Venter, who has not yet been suspended by the SANDF, could also not afford to pay him to continue with the Burundi trial.

“I have applied to the Defence Force to call me up for service in Burundi. That way I can act on behalf of the accused during that court martial,” Loots then informed the court.

However, yesterday it appeared that Loots’s attempts to make it to Burundi were in vain.

The military judge presiding in Venter’s Burundi trial earlier said in the Thaba Tshwane Military Court that if Loots could not make it to Burundi, the SANDF would appoint a defence counsel who could just read Loots’s prepared arguments to the military court as both parties had earlier closed their cases.

At this stage it is believed that this is what will eventually happen tomorrow in Bujumbura.

Venter, now a convicted prisoner after he was sentenced to10 years in jail for the attack on his family, was yesterday morning brought from the Nelspruit Prison to Thaba Tshwane where the Department of Correctional Services handed him over to the Military Police.

He will be flown to Burundi today on the official plane that is also transporting the three military judges and two prosecutors, one a lieutenant-colonel and the other a captain.

It is believed Venter will be kept in chains during the flight and again locked up in the shipping container that was his “cell” in Burundi before.

Venter, originally from the Hoedspruit Military Base, has been on trial since February 25 this year. It is alleged he raped and strangled Therese Nkeshimana (14) on the night of September 19/20 2004 while working as a VIP protector following a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Burundi. He did not serve under the United Nations.

Apparently Venter also assaulted a hotel security guard that night after the complainant refused to give him and the girl a room.

The accused pleaded not guilty.

The court martial of the South African Air Force sergeant accused of murdering and raping a Burundi teenager is expected to continue in Bujumbura, the capital of the country, tomorrow.

It appears that this time Flippie Venter (34) will face the final rounds of his trial without his legal representative.

Since he was arrested for the murder of his two children and the attempted murder of his wife in April this year, Venter has been unable to pay Advocate Patrick Loots, who defended him during the Burundi trial earlier this year.

When he stood trial for the family tragedy in Nelspruit last month, Loots acted on his behalf for free. During that trial, the Nelspruit Circular Court heard that the Burundi case played a huge role in worsening Venter’s psychological condition.

Loots also told the court at the time that Venter, who has not yet been suspended by the SANDF, could also not afford to pay him to continue with the Burundi trial.

“I have applied to the Defence Force to call me up for service in Burundi. That way I can act on behalf of the accused during that court martial,” Loots then informed the court.

However, yesterday it appeared that Loots’s attempts to make it to Burundi were in vain.

The military judge presiding in Venter’s Burundi trial earlier said in the Thaba Tshwane Military Court that if Loots could not make it to Burundi, the SANDF would appoint a defence counsel who could just read Loots’s prepared arguments to the military court as both parties had earlier closed their cases.

At this stage it is believed that this is what will eventually happen tomorrow in Bujumbura.

Venter, now a convicted prisoner after he was sentenced to10 years in jail for the attack on his family, was yesterday morning brought from the Nelspruit Prison to Thaba Tshwane where the Department of Correctional Services handed him over to the Military Police.

He will be flown to Burundi today on the official plane that is also transporting the three military judges and two prosecutors, one a lieutenant-colonel and the other a captain.

It is believed Venter will be kept in chains during the flight and again locked up in the shipping container that was his “cell” in Burundi before.

Venter, originally from the Hoedspruit Military Base, has been on trial since February 25 this year. It is alleged he raped and strangled Therese Nkeshimana (14) on the night of September 19/20 2004 while working as a VIP protector following a bilateral agreement between South Africa and Burundi. He did not serve under the United Nations.

Apparently Venter also assaulted a hotel security guard that night after the complainant refused to give him and the girl a room.

The accused pleaded not guilty.

About 1300 men who claim to be former soldiers remain camped in the bush for the third week near Mandeni, northern KwaZulu-Natal, in protest against not being integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The deputy president of the South African Uninterrupted Forces, Zenzele Sishi, said the men, who are in tents, would march through Mandeni on Friday.

"We've got roots here now. We will not move until (Defence) Minister (Mosiuoa) Lekota comes here to address issues we raised in our letter to him and we are integrated into the SANDF," Sishi said.

Lekota's spokesman, Sam Mkhwanazi, said he was not aware of any meeting that had been planned.

The men claim to be former soldiers of the Inkatha Freedom Party's (IFP's) Self-Protection Unit, the Pan Africanist Congress-aligned People's Liberation Army, as well as the African National Congress's (ANC's) former military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe.

The SANDF has said that the integration process of all former military forces in SA prior to the first democratic elections has been over since 1999.

The Termination of Integration and Intake Bill was passed in 2000, bringing to the end an almost 10-year process.

However, Sishi has claimed that more than 8000 soldiers were not integrated into the SANDF.

The IFP has distanced itself from the men, who have invaded a farm.

The incident has also contributed to the severing of political relations between the IFP and the ANC in the province after the ruling party accused the IFP of being behind the men's invasion of the farm.

The disgruntled soldiers arrived at Leeukop Farm in Manguzi at the beginning of last month.

However, the farmer evicted them after tear gas and rubber bullets were used on the men.

Sishi said yesterday that the group had been given permission by the Mandeni town council to remain camped where they were.

Part of Sishi's group has allegedly been planning to cross the border to Mozambique to go for underground military training.

The South African National Defence Force's Chief of Joint Operations died shortly after having minor surgery, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Wednesday in Durban.

Lieutenant General Sipho Binda (54) died in One Military hospital in Pretoria on Tuesday night. Earlier in the day he had apparently undergone minor surgery after a car accident on Saturday.

It is believed that Binda suffered heart failure. A full statement is expected to be issued by the Department of Defence later on Wednesday.

Lekota made the announcement of Binda's death as he opened the final session of the Sixth South Africa/Botswana joint commission at the International Convention Centre in Durban. - Sapa Blogs linking to: M&G Online | This article | What's this about?

SOUTH AFRICA has publicised itself as one of Africa’s most important peace-keeping nations and claimed credit for calming potentially violent conflicts on the continent.

But it seems that, beneath the positive public relations campaign of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), criminal elements within the military have been allowed to flourish –with seemingly little accountability.

On Monday, the Cape Times reported that 80 South African peacekeepers have been charged with 117 offences, 48 of them criminal.

In addition, the military’s legal services department has inquired or is conducting inquiries into a staggering 125 military peacekeeping vehicle accidents in which Burundian and Congolese civilians were killed or injured.

An investigation also found that an SANDF lieutenant was deployed to Burundi as a peacekeeper while facing a charge of shooting a civilian in the back. The defence department claims that it is investigating the incident, and is adamant that it takes offences committed by its troops very seriously.

But, if the unprecedented summons issued on November 2 against a South African soldier by Congolese justice authorities is anything to go by, the action (or lack thereof) taken against criminal elements within the army is failing to inspire international respect.

By serving a summons on a South African peacekeeper, now stationed locally, the Congolese have acted against the provisions of their United Nations memorandum of understanding with South Africa – which states that offences committed by SANDF troops will be handled by South African authorities.

One can only ask why, after years of accepting this agreement, the Congolese would now act against it?

If the answer falls beyond the banal confines of misunderstanding, and is motivated by frustration and discontent with the way in which SANDF offenders are dealt with, the army will and must face some tough questions.

Any military body will, to some degree, face disciplinary problems from within its ranks. But the public needs to be convinced that maintaining proper discipline remains one of the SANDF’s primary objectives.

South African National Defence Force authorities are struggling to explain how a soldier accused of losing his cool and shooting a man in the back, was sent to Burundi as a peacekeeper.

The SANDF initially suggested that Lieutenant Lawrence Tiro Toolo was off-duty when he allegedly murdered Clement Hadebe on November 22 2001.

However, an investigation by The Star, sister newspaper of the Pretoria News, has revealed that Toolo was part of an anti-stock theft operation between police and the SANDF in rural KwaZulu-Natal at the time of the killing.

After an angry crowd, including Hadebe, confronted Toolo and his colleague and removed the allegedly stolen cattle which they had recovered, the State claims that Toolo – armed with his army-issue R4 rifle – shot the retreating Hadebe in the back. Hadebe is said to have collapsed on the scene and died of “haemorrhage shock” resulting from the gunshot wound.

Defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi yesterday said the SANDF was not in a position to explain how Toolo was deployed to Burundi while out on bail for murder, which prevented the case against him from proceeding, or to clarify when and if he was repatriated to South Africa.

“We are still investigating that matter,” he said.

The SANDF has also yet to explain how Toolo, who was a rifleman at the time of the shooting, came to be promoted into the senior position of lieutenant, despite the charge against him.

The case against Toolo was scheduled to continue in the Ladysmith Magistrate’s Court in early December, but is expected to be postponed to February.

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move that contradicts a previous memorandum of understanding between South Africa and the DRC, Congolese justice authorities have issued summons on an SANDF soldier accused of attempting to stab a local man.

Despite the fact that the SANDF authorities informed their Congolese counterparts that they had disciplined Lieutenant Tshepo Tshabane, who is currently stationed in South Africa, a summons was issued against Tshabane on November 2.

The summons is understood to have stymied SANDF legal staff, because they have never dealt with such a request before. Normally, offences committed by SANDF soldiers abroad are handled by the South African military justice system.

Mkhwanazi said he was not aware of the summons. He declined to comment on whether this move could be seen as an indictment of the SANDF’s handling of criminal cases against its members.

He said the Defence Department would work with the Department of Foreign Affairs to “get advice on the issues of foreign policy involved here”.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn yesterday reacted to the expose on the 80 South African peacekeepers currently charged with 117 offences, 48 of which are criminal. He said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota “should admit that discipline in the SANDF is seriously damaging South Africa’s image abroad and announce steps to remedy the situation”.

“It is clear that there are serious discipline problems at SANDF bases. Another cause for concern is the number of vehicle accidents in which SANDF personnel are involved abroad.

“Damage to vehicles is costing taxpayers millions of rands every year and civilians are also killed or injured.”

He added: “What is very clear from years of poor Auditor-General’s reports is that our current Minister of Defence clearly does not have the political will to get the SANDF back into a position in which it would be able to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

“Should our borders be violated by foreign troops our citizens would be safer if they called their private security company for protection.”

80 peacekeepers at foreign bases facing criminal charges – including murder

A South African National Defence Force soldier’s drug habit resulted in the public throat-slitting of a Sudanese man found guilty of selling him dagga.

Rifleman Tobani Chiliza’s purchase from a Sudanese man in a Kuturi town market in July last year led to the seller’s execution.

And while Chiliza has been discharged from the army, The Star has established that at least 80 SANDF peacekeepers on foreign missions are facing 117 charges – 48 of them criminal, ranging from murder to tampering with human organs.

An investigation by The Star has revealed that criminal cases recorded by the military’s legal services department, as of November 1 this year, include murder, culpable homicide, assault, indecent assault, theft, intimidation, fraud and public indecency.

Army spokesperson Colonel Petrus Motlhabane confirmed that Chiliza had been discharged, but was stationed back home at 14 South African Infantry Battalion pending an appeal.

But the man who sold Chiliza the dagga – for whom the SANDF says it is unable to provide a name or age – wasn’t as lucky.

“This office (Chief Military Legal Services) has been notified, via the operational reporting channel, that the local Sudanese soldier who sold the dagga to Rifleman Chiliza was tried according to Sudanese law, found guilty and as punishment was executed by having his throat slit,” military correspondence noted.

In another case, a lieutenant, Lawrence Tiro Toolo, was armed and deployed to Burundi, despite being out on bail on a murder charge in KwaZulu Natal.

There are also eight cases of “unspecified” offences and a reported violation of the Human Tissues Act (in place to govern organ donation and transplants).

The army is also processing more than 300 investigations into irregularities, accidents, acts of negligence, misconduct and deaths among its peacekeepers.

In Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, SANDF personnel have been involved in 125 vehicle accidents, in which eight locals were killed and two children injured. The accident list includes a UN Casspir armoured vehicle that reportedly “ran over a chemical toilet” and the destruction of a DRC house by an out-of-control tank.

Inquiries have also been opened into the following:

nA rifleman who shot five of his colleagues, killing one, before shooting himself. It is understood that, prior to the incident, the man had sought permission to return home for a “cleansing ritual” (May 20 2005).

nWhy a Burundian woman was flown into South Africa on a military plane, allegedly to explore business interests in the country (2006).

nHow naked photos of a female corporal in the DRC last year came to be used as a commander’s computer screensaver (2006).

In response to the charges still pending against SANDF soldiers, military spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the military maintained that it was committed to the highest standards of discipline.

Responding to The Star’s questions about how Toolo was deployed to Burundi despite facing murder charges, Mkhwanazi said the matter was under investigation.

“We can’t speculate on what happened there ... because the joint operations department is still investigating that.”

When Toolo failed to pitch up for his trial in the Dukuza Circuit Court in Bergville, it was postponed to early next month.

The state made a formal request for the soldier to be repatriated in November 2005. The SANDF has not yet confirmed whether Toolo has returned to South Africa.

Flight-Sergeant Flippie Venter, who has been sentenced to an effective 10 years’ jail for murdering his two children and attempting to kill his wife at a local military base, is set to go on trial in Burundi for allegedly killing a 14-year-old Burundian girl.

Mkhwanazi said the SANDF was not in a position to comment on ongoing legal matters.

Meanwhile, in a move that contradicts a memorandum of understanding between the DRC and South Africa, DRC justice authorities have issued a summons on an SANDF soldier accused of attempting to stab a local man.

SANDF authorities informed their DRC counterparts that they had disciplined Lieutenant Tshepo Tshabane, who is stationed in South Africa, but a summons was still issued from the DRC against Tshabane on November 2.

Mkhwanazi said he was not aware of the summons and declined to comment on whether this move was an indictment of the SANDF’s handling of criminal cases against its members. He said the Defence Department would work with the Department of Foreign Affairs to “get legal advice ... particularly on the issues of foreign policy involved here”.

The South African ambassador in the DRC, Sisa Ngombane, admitted he has had to deal with cases of peacekeepers landing in trouble, but he maintained they were the “backbone” of the mission. There are around 2 000 SANDF soldiers stationed in the DRC.

Ngombane has addressed the South African troops to inform them that bad behaviour would not be tolerated. His message was: “We can’t have this kind of reputation.”

A rich Pietermaritzburg taxi operator entered into a contract with two SANDF soldiers and others to assassinate a rival taxi operator, the Pietermaritzburg high court heard on Monday.

One of the alleged assassins, testifying as state witness in hope of obtaining indemnity, told the court the taxi boss who ordered the murder was the late Jika Joe Dlamini, and the victim was Simphiwe "Kansas" Mkhize, who died 12 days after being shot several times by one of the contracted gunmen.

The assassination took place in April 2002.

Bhombani Khowane, who admitted that he was contracted because he had played major roles in robberies, was told by acting judge Raj Badal that he had to answer questions frankly and honestly, even though his replies might incriminate him in the murder charge.

If he did so he would be indemnified from prosecution. Khowane said he understood.

The accused are soldier Xolani Manyoni, 30, and Richard Mathobi, 34, both of Pietermaritzburg, while another soldier accused, Bhekizitha Bhengu, 38, has absconded after being granted bail. They have pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) deployed for a peace keeping mission in Burundi (Operation Fibre) in 2001. The approach was to rotate deployees every six months. The rotation was accompanied by an audit to ensure that the outgoing South African battalion (Sabat) makes a proper handover to the incoming one.

A routine stocktake accompanied the audit to ensure accountability between national contingency commanders during rotation. Where there are material discrepancies, a board of inquiry is convened as a standard procedure. In this regard, when Sabat 3 was handing over to Sabat 4 in February last year, discrepancies of a material nature were identified and this necessitated the convening of a board of inquiry.

It must be underlined that the purpose of a board of inquiry, in the military environment, is to strengthen and maintain effective, efficient and economical command control systems. Accordingly, boards of inquiry are convened at various levels of command to confirm, reveal and or report on circumstances and causes of deficiencies/discrepancies with the aim of recommending corrective measures and to strengthen command and control systems.

In the case under discussion – the Sabat 3/Sabat 4 rotation in Burundi, the board of inquiry was set up in August last year and it reported two months later.

In short, it confirmed incomplete accounting procedures. In the light of its findings an Implementation and Verification Task Team for the rotation of the SANDF contingent in Burundi (Sabat 6 to Sabat 7) undertook stocktaking to verify and update the records. The task team submitted its report in August 2006.

Whereas the board of inquiry had indicated a discrepancy of R52,7-million missing, the task team established that this amount included consumables (fuel, ration packs, etc) and non-consumables (vehicles, tents, etc). After the task team had systematically written off consumables to distribution accounts, the accurate figure was reduced to R27-million. It then became clear that the discrepancy was as a result of incomplete accounting procedures.

The task team then undertook the practical stocktake of the non-consumables.

These are controlled items under management of product system managers. They include chassis and engine numbers, and number plate-controlled vehicles. Weapons are controlled by serial numbers sequentially allocated to each weapon. All weapons and vehicles are registered to a central electronic register.

Due to operational challenges at that time, the register was not timely updated in line with the tempo of operational requirements. This situation created an impression that vehicles and weapons that are components of the discrepancy were lost.

Subsequently the task team returned a report that confirmed that no vehicles were lost and all missing weapons could be accounted for.

The SANDF is therefore in a position today to state without fear of contradiction that we can account for each and every vehicle that was ever deployed in Burundi, its number plates, its present location, and the state of its condition.

It is clear therefore, that the article The Star and sister newspapers put out on October 31, is correct insofar as it confirms the findings of the board of inquiry of August 2005 to October 2005. But insofar as The Star’s story is unsighted of the task team report, it is false and misleading.

Nevertheless, we must place on record that the SANDF experienced two break-ins at its bases in Burundi, during which 22 000 rounds of R4 ammunition, 80 mortar bombs, an R4 rifle and two magazines and two 9mm pistols were stolen. Five R4 magazines were lost while in possession of our members.

The Star and sister newspapers reported that members of SANDF used an official vehicle to deliver weapons to FNL.

The source of this startling allegation is not indicated. We place on record that since the beginning of Operation Fibre that neither the government of Burundi, the African Union, the United Nations nor the South African government has ever received a complaint or possessed information upon which such an allegation could be based.

This seems to be an extreme attempt to besmirch the image of the SANDF and to undermine the commendable service it has been delivering to SA and the Great Lakes region.

nMosiuoa Lekota is the Minister of Defence

The South African peacekeeping mission in Burundi struggled for four years with chaotic accounting systems, inadequate logistical support and complex supply lines that left numerous vehicles and other equipment unserviceable, ammunition supplies vulnerable to theft and accident, and made it impossible for the mission to balance its books. Those problems are graphically illustrated in the proceedings of a 2005 board of inquiry into “discrepancies” at the Burundi base. The Mail & Guardian obtained a copy of the confidential proceedings of the board and discussed its implications with Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and the Secretary of Defence, January Masilela.

It appears that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) may not have lost large quantities of vehicles and weapons in the jungles of Burundi, but instead misplaced them in a chaotic accounting system.

ML: It is true that our recording and accounting system lagged behind the actual operation. In the hand­over from South African Battalion 3 to South African Battlion 4 [in 2004] a number of queries arose, which is why we set up a board of inquiry. That was followed by an implementation and verification task team. All of the vehicles are now accounted for.

The proceedings of the enquiry make it clear that many senior officers believe the logistical systems and command and control infrastructure of the SANDF are totally inadequate to deal with peacekeeping missions.

JM: We had to deploy externally, we had never done that before. We are an organisation in transition. We had 23 logistical systems and each arm of service was using its own. We are now combining them in a new Operational Information Logistics System.

This isn’t just about accounting. If equipment is not accurately recorded, chances of it going missing are increased. And according to the proceedings of the board of inquiry, the majority of SANDF vehicles in Burundi cannot be serviced owing to a lack of spare parts — also a systems problem. Are you saying that situation is resolved?

JM: We recognised the difficulty, that is why the board was instituted. It is our instrument to establish where the weaknesses are.

The evidence presented to the board paints a very poor picture of the management of the Burundi deployment. There was ammunition stored under the special forces canteen. Other ammunition was stored close to fuel tanks and a runway; security procedures were inadequate; weapons were stolen. Weapons weren’t properly signed in and out. Is anyone going to be held responsible?

ML: This is not South Africa we are talking about. Here I have men and women that I drop in Burundi. They are surrounded by warring groups and they have limited land space. It is bound to happen that in the beginning there will be problematic situations. These bases were attacked twice and the loss of weapons was due to break-ins by Burundian military formations. We plead guilty, there were things we had to sort out. But systematically we took steps.

Are you confident that peacekeeping deployments are now better managed?

ML: [Previously] the situation was not that well managed, but all the vehicles are up to date, all the weapons, the uniforms and so on.

But surely someone should be held accountable?

ML: Look, you hold investigations, if no crime is committed … you have to look to other measures. For example, we had a problem in Hoedspruit with the theft of explosives. When it was traced back there, we found that the command structure there — white officers who had sworn loyalty to this country — were involved in the theft. Now we are having a problem in Ladysmith and I have no doubt that people we kept, and upgraded, because we trusted them, are involved.

The fundamental question remains, have you overhauled your accounting and logistics structures sufficiently to rapidly and effectively deploy into a complex operational environment if necessary?

ML: The old SADF had no experience in this, everybody had to learn. Now we have experience and other African countries are asking us for advice. The Dutch committed €5-million to peacekeeping and they said they would only provide the money if it was managed by us. We are established now.

General joins battle for business Former head of the defence force Siphiwe Nyanda has commercial interests at top of his agenda, says SIPHIWE Nyanda is back at work and willing to talk business. The former head of SA's armed forces heads a defence company, Ngwane Defence Group, which started up in September. It is a surprise not to have to pry the information out of him. After all, the general who retired in May last year is known for not answering when he is unwilling to do so. As recently as June, Nyanda responded sharply to an interviewer who asked what he was doing now.

It's nobody's business. It's a private matter. When we meet for lunch at La Campagnola, an Italian restaurant at Bryanston's Hobart Centre, however, the 56-year-old Nyanda happily tells me about the company launched by Transport Minister Jeff Radebe at the Africa Aerospace and Defence Expo in Cape Town six weeks ago. The topic is high on his agenda. The restaurant is close to the Bryanston home Nyanda bought just before he retired the home that was broken into in August while he was on a business trip. They held up my kid, my maid, at gunpoint. They entertained themselves, helped themselves to food for about five hours. The former soldier wanted to know, when we first spoke on the phone, why I was interested in him. I assure him again I have no agenda, other than wanting to know as much about him as possible. Nyanda, who worked for the World, predecessor of the Sowetan, before he left SA in 1976 for training with Umkhonto we Sizwe, then the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC), dismisses my statement with the confidence of a former journalist. There's nothing like that in journalism, he says. There's always some agenda. We do not order wine as Nyanda says he still has to go to the gym. The former general is disciplined. In fact, his past year of leisure has been remarkably busy. He runs a security consultancy and sits on the board of Ivema, a Pretoria-based military vehicle marketer. Ivema is one of the companies comprising Ngwane, along with Milkor Marketing, design company IAD, Midrand-based rifle maker Truvelo Manufacturers, grenade-launcher maker Sonoro, and Uri, maker of the Gila armoured personnel carrier. Nyanda was asked to head the company by his friend, Fana Hlongwane. Hlongwane owns most of Ivema and a significant portion of Uri, Nyanda says. Ngwane is the first black-owned collection of defence companies in SA, he says. It is not an empowerment company, but would look at opportunities that came its way. Ngwane's businesses are largely export-oriented, but they now want to sell more vehicles and weapons at home. We should definitely have a slice of the South African market. We break the conversation to order starters. Nyanda, who always eats seafood at La Campagnola, goes for a salmon carpaccio starter and grilled kingklip. I have artichokes with gorgonzola sauce then penne with tuna and peas. The artichoke turns out to be tough and the pasta remarkably ordinary. Perhaps I should have copied Nyanda and gone for the fish.

Nyanda's five-year appointment began in 1999 but was extended by two years to account for a transition period covering the 2004 general election and a new defence minister. Still, it was important to set a precedent of one term, he says. A consequence of the integration that became the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is that many young generals were appointed. You could have a 41-year-old chief of the armed forces, he says, and it would be difficult for the president to relieve them of their post if they didn't want to go. Our defence force would become like many on the African continent, of people who are just sitting there, blocking the upward mobility of other people. If the head does not move and the other generals don't move, there is little movement upwards and good people get frustrated. The integration of SA's many once-warring armed groups into one regular armed force is a mammoth task that is still under way, Nyanda says. Nyanda may have been a soldier, but he now wields all the jargon of a businessman. There was a need to right-size after 1994 as the army was no longer fighting insurgency, he says. In fact, the process Nyanda describes sounds much like a CEO talking about merging two business entities. Does he see himself as a Steve Booysen, the Absa CEO whose company was bought by UK giant Barclays? I ask. Businesses approach the whole merger with more ruthlessness, because obviously they are looking at the bottom line, whereas we have a lot of political considerations. Booysen or any other corporate boss is unlikely to face the prospect of unhappy former staff running around with weapons, but this is not Nyanda's concern. He is not going to have a lot of disgruntled workers running to politicians and so on. There is not going to be that much political lobbying or dilly-dallying. And all this happened while trying to overcome suspicions between various groups, and coping with the entrenched racist views of the military's largely white, technical-skilled, middle layers. Unusual times require unusual measures. It is not expected of the chief of staff of the US military to go and address a group of soldiers and then say 'questions, please'. But we had to do that because we were managing a particularly delicate transition. At the same time, there has been the task of building the armed forces up to play a role in the rest of Africa. The first major external role the SANDF played was the deployment in Burundi in October 2001. Reports this week say South African equipment and weapons have turned up in the hands of rebel factions in Burundi. As we eat our mains, Nyanda says this pilfering must be dealt with, but this does not detract from his pride at what the Burundi mission has demonstrated. It proved SA was ready to put its money where its mouth was, that it did not only promote and support Africa's quest for peace and development, but was also willing to back that up in practice, he says. As far as the defence force is concerned, it put to rest many of the doubts people had. Detractors wanted to rubbish the SANDF as an incompetent force, but it really showed we had succeeded. Many people had said this integration was a failure, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. It showed we were a viable military force. As we wait for coffee and dessert, I ask about an opinion piece Nyanda wrote in the Sunday Times in January attacking the media treatment of former deputy president Jacob Zuma. He laughs nervously. That is the hidden agenda! Nyanda says the media had launched vitriolic attacks against Zuma and gleeful media analysts had all but written him off. Given the tendency to place everyone into either an Mbeki or Zuma camp, I ask Nyanda if he falls with Zuma. He replies in the negative. I definitely am not, but I'm on the side of justice. Nyanda, along with figures including former ANC chief whip Tony Yengeni, attended Zuma's Durban Magistrate's Court appearance last October, where his fraud indictment was served. By January, however, Nyanda sensed popular support for Zuma was waning.

I saw those people beginning to retreat and I did not believe Zuma had raped this girl for one minute and I suspected this was a set-up. Speaking out when Zuma seemed down would avoid accusations that he had an eye on the spoils of Zuma's office, he says. As Nyanda speaks of the media, he pounds the table with a forefinger. They're painting everybody with the same brush, because Tony Yengeni was there, all those people who were interested in corruption were standing by this man, whereas actually the whole ANC, the national general council of the ANC, was saying, 'We see you guys for what you are'. In 1990, Nyanda was arrested for his role in Operation Vula, a clandestine operation to build the conditions for an armed insurrection. It was the ANC's plan B in case peace negotiations proved fruitless. He was second-in-command to Mac Maharaj. The revelation of this operation was an embarrassment to those in the ANC who had been negotiating towards a diplomatic solution. A prominent member of this group was Thabo Mbeki. I ask Nyanda if, given the rape acquittal and the dismissal of fraud charges, Zuma is now a shoe-in for the ANC top job. Nyanda's reply is unequivocal.

Really, it's not an area I'd like to venture into. Not a topic on his agenda, you might say.

South African troops were sent to Burundi to keep the peace but it seems their weapons have landed in rebel hands.

Sources have confirmed that millions of rands worth of vehicles, guns, ammunition and bombs, and supplies worth over R27-million [rand] have vanished from the South African army base in Burundi over the last four years.

Poor management of equipment and theft of weapons have been blamed for the South African National Defence Force losses.

The missing vehicles are believed to include several Casspirs; a Mazda ambulance; Isuzu bakkies; one firefighting truck; Land Rover Defenders; trucks; a water tanker; a Yamaha motorcycle; forklift trucks; Toyota Condor vans; several cars; a tractor; and a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

The Star has also established that among the weapons missing are 40 mortar bombs; 54 R4 rifles; four R5 rifles; a sniper rifle; two 12-gauge shotguns; eight machineguns; eight pistols; and 27 grenade launchers.

A 15 KVA generator is also understood to be missing.

While army authorities have previously blamed poor accounting practices for the losses, an investigation by The Star has found that on one occasion at least 50 missing SANDF [South African National Defence Force] mortar bombs - out of 80 bombs stolen using an army-owned Land Rover - were found in an FNL Palipehutu rebel group camp in Kiriri, Burundi.

The FNL has been blamed for a series of mortar attacks on the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, in which at least 300 people are known to have died.

The Star has also learnt that a case of ammunition - part of a total 1.5-million SANDF-owned rounds that went missing in Burundi - was found in the possession of Burundian government forces in 2004.

As yet, the SANDF has failed to reveal how many millions of rands worth of weapons, vehicles and supplies it has lost to theft or mismanagement. Disturbingly, it seems the SANDF has no idea how many weapons are in its possession.

Scathing report

Now, following a scathing Auditor-General's report into the Department of Defence's "inadequate" and "deficient" accounting practices, the Democratic Alliance was due to ask the Defence Ministry in parliament today to address claims that about 70 army vehicles, over 110 weapons and items of equipment, and millions of rands worth of supplies have disappeared from the South African base in Burundi.

List

Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota, who has admitted that addressing the logistics crisis in the department was one of its main challenges, last month revealed to parliament that the following pieces of weaponry "have both been lost and stolen on peace support missions":

47 680 x 5.56mm rifle rounds 1 800 x 7.62mm rifle rounds 97 x 60mm mortar bombs 46 x 5.56 mm R4 rifles

Three light machine-guns, two 9mm pistols, two grenades and four R4 magazines.

Lekota stressed that the SANDF staff were instructed to safeguard arms and ammunition, and rectify any "deficiencies" they noticed in such security arrangements.

Financial statements

However, according to Auditor-General Shauket Fakie, there was no evidence that cases of losses or damages to army property were followed up on a regular basis.

"In certain instances, cases are not reported or actions taken to recover losses from members."

To make matters worse, Fakie said, various files pertaining to losses were not submitted to the Auditor-General and loss and damage registers were not properly maintained.

"Critical information was omitted and was not regularly checked by management to ensure accuracy and completeness," Fakie said.

This year, for the first time, the department's financial statements did not disclose just how much the loss of its property was costing taxpayers.

In its 2004/2005 report, the department's financial statements totalled the cost of the loss of defence property at over R48,7-million.

This year's financial statements also failed to provide any financial value for the SANDF's weapon and ammunitions inventory, effectively indicating that the Department of Defence has no idea how many weapons are in its possession.

Worryingly, the report did, however, note that the department's "unauthorized expenditure awaiting authorization" amounted to over R495-million.

Deficiencies

Fakie, who hit the Defence Department with a qualified audit for the fifth year in a row, slammed the SANDF for the following:

Inadequate control over the "general administration of demands". Deficient controls over the issue and receipt of vouchers. "Internal controls over the security and general administration of vehicles, weapons and ammunition were found to be deficient." Storage facilities were found to be deficient in that inventory and assets were not stored under prescribed and ideal conditions. This could result in the state incurring material losses, said Fakie, in apparent reference to reports that the SANDF located an ammunition dump 800m from Bujumbura airport and within 600m of two large fuel tanks. Stocktakes were not performed at all units/General Support Bases during the year and the stock-taking certificates received from certain units were found to be of "doubtful accuracy".

Referring specifically to SANDF operations abroad, Fakie reiterated that control over the shipping of assets to foreign destinations was weak.

Fakie added: "As a result of the lack of controls and proper documentation, certain inventory and assets were shipped to incorrect destinations."

"Huge danger"

Approached for comment on the steps taken to address the apparent crisis in Burundi, the Department of Defence indicated it would be able to comment only later this week, "after conducting the proper research".

The department also declined to comment on the suspension last week of a senior logistics officer.

Democratic Alliance defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn told The Star that any losses in the army suffered "due to poor management and theft are a direct result of inaction on the part of the minister (Lekota) and senior SANDF management".

Jankielsohn added: "The loss of ammunition, weapons and other equipment that can be used by forces within these countries poses a huge danger to SA [South African] troops and the civilian population, and will only further destabilise already volatile areas."

The South Africa National Defence Force [SANDF] have classified as "secret" discussions about a proposed arms-disposal project that could cost taxpayers up to 1.14bn rands [about 152m dollars].

Opposition parties were left fuming yesterday as a defence force briefing about the project to the parliamentary portfolio committee for defence was deemed "classified".

It is understood that a number of internal SANDF objections were raised about the proposed plant, which will destroy 5,000 tonnes of ammunition a year. The methods currently being used are capable of destroying up to 12,000 tons a year.

The Star has learnt that the company favoured to get the contract for the arms-disposal plant is a consortium of a European company and a local [name of firm withheld] company, which lists its business as "the repair of household items". Plans to award the company the contract were strongly opposed by certain elements within the SANDF, including the recently suspended logistics chief-general, Themba Ntsibande.

According to sources within the SANDF, the proposal requires the Department of Defence to guarantee the potential contractor business to the value of 100m rands [13m dollars] a year (excluding VAT) for five years. After the five years, the department would either have to buy the plant for 240m rands [32m dollars] or guarantee the contractor a further five years of business - at a total cost of between 820m [110m dollars] and 1.14bn rands [152m dollars].

However, no specialist project manager was, appointed to oversee the acquisition of the ammunition-disposal project; no project study was performed; no detailed specification for the project was developed; and there was no open competition for the project. There was also no competitive costing provided to ensure that the Department of Defence was getting value for money. The controversial proposal for the plant allegedly incorrectly quoted the quantity of Department of Defence ammunition needed to be destroyed as 80,000 tonnes, when in fact the department's total ammunition stock stands at 63,000 tonnes, with 23,000 tonnes eligible for disposal. It is understood that the proposal does not address the destruction of weapons that "present a challenge" to army forces, including weapons such as "air force bombs, navy-unique ammunition and pyrotechnics, and white phosphorus in particular". It also fails to make any provision for the re-use, recovery or recycling of shells, projectiles, cartridges or materials - a process more environmentally and economically advantageous. The plant would be erected according to European standards and requirements not applicable in South Africa or enforced by South African environmental legislation, adding to the costs.

[Opposition] Democratic Alliance defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn slammed the Defence Department's decision to keep yesterday's meeting secret. "One can only ask what the Department of Defence is trying to hide by not allowing details of what should be a legitimate transaction to be made public. The reason given was that the information was secret. The briefing related to how far the process had gone. Although information relating to the costs and contractors was supplied, the chairperson of the committee, Ms Tandi Tobias, would not allow details on costs to be discussed."

Although there was a need for such a plant to dispose of obsolete and often dangerous ammunition, "this should not be a closed process", Jankielsohn added.

Asked why yesterday's meeting was regarded as classified, Ministry of Defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said: "Once they say it's classified, I can't discuss it further."

The meeting comes in the wake of a series of embarrassing revelations about the SANDF's inability to account for millions of rands worth of missing arms, ammunition, vehicles and supplies from its army base in Burundi.

Responding to yesterday's publication of an investigation by The Star into the SANDF's "missing" arms, vehicles and ammunition - including the discovery of 50 mortar bombs in a rebel camp in Burundi - Nazir Kamal, spokesperson for the UN Register of Conventional Arms, said that if the story was correct, "it is very disturbing indeed".

"It is widely recognized that diversion from illicit stocks is a major source of illicit small arms and light weapons around the world, fuelling civil conflicts and instability and endangering human security."

Sources also claim that the SANDF's shocking logistics support and lack of accounting control placed its international missions at "high" and "continuous" risk.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota reacted with outrage on Wednesday to reports that the defence force had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles during peacekeeping operations in Burundi. "The disturbing thing about this report is that it is so grossly inaccurate as to suggest bad faith," he told journalists in Pretoria. The minister described reports by Independent Newspapers that vehicles such as Casspirs, armoured personnel carriers, Land Rovers and several cars were missing from the South African base in Burundi as "grossly inaccurate". "We can account for each and every one of them, where they are operating," Lekota said about the vehicles, adding that none were missing. Independent Newspapers reported on Tuesday that R27-million worth of vehicles, guns and ammunition had vanished from the base. He said the implication of the reports was that the equipment and vehicles lost had fallen into the hands of rebels.

"With this kind of activity the Burundi government would have kicked us out a long time ago," Lekota said. Lekota, lecturing journalists on the ethics of their profession, said he detested such reports, describing them as "extremely irresponsible". "I cannot think of anyone who has money enough, even in the black market of a country like Burundi, [to] be able to buy equipment like the vehicles that are suggested here," he said. "I don't know where anyone would keep quantities of equipment [as] suggested here [in the report] in Burundi," he said. Lekota did, however, admit that some rifles and mortar bombs were missing. "Some of which in ambushes, others of the things were stolen and others of the things were lost. Of course it is normal that things can get lost and so on," he said. He said in one instance 22 000 rounds of ammunition were stolen from a South African National Defence Force (SANDF) base in Burundi. In a more recent incident, 35 rifles were taken by Janjaweed rebels in an ambush of SANDF peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region and some rifles were also lost when a vehicle "fell" into the river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.