Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

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

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

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

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

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

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