Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The Freedom Front Plus is seeking an urgent meeting with defence minister Mosiuoa Lekota to discuss the looming closure of 55commando units and five headquarters. FF+ defence spokesman Pieter Groenewald said on Monday the closures would leave national key points and many communities unguarded as the police were not yet ready to pick up the mantle the territorial reservists were laying down. Groenewald said the units and headquarters would be closed by the end of March next year if Lekota approved this. But for all practical purposes these commando units have already been closed as their budgets have already been frozen and have not been loaded onto the Financial Management computer system -- they can therefore not deploy operationally. "The 55 commando units which had been identified for closure between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 not only holds a threat for rural safeguarding but also for urban safeguarding," Groenewald said. "Commando units such as the Durban South Commando protect five national key points and the Broederstroom Commando protects Pelindaba as a national key point. "The majority of farm attacks, armed robberies and home robberies take place in the Pretoria East area followed by the Broederstroom area. The commandos for these areas will now be closing. "The police at ground level acknowledge that they are not ready to take over the role of the commandos and a vacuum in safeguarding is therefore created," Groenewald added. "In the Northwest Province eight commando units have to close. These commando units form the basis of rural safeguarding in the North West Province. "Their closure knocks the bottom out of especially rural safeguarding in the whole of the province. The Klerksdorp Commando two months ago still played a crucial role during the earthquake that struck the area. "In Potchefstroom the police have not budgeted to take over the role of the commandos. "The worst is that the police in Potchefstroom will be losing eight vehicles of which four are squad cars as a result of their personnel numbers. "The police is frankly not capable to take over the role of the commandos and the closures are extremely irresponsible. The big problem is that the Defence Force does its planning but there are no criteria to determine whether the police is ready," Groenewald said. Lekota's spokesman, Sam Mkhwanazi, was not immediately available for comment and the SANDF's chief directorate of corporate communications asked to see Groenewald's statement before replying. Beeld newspaper said the following units and headquarters would be closing: Eastern Cape - Amatola Commando - De Mist Commando - Graaff Reinet Commando - Kirkwood Commando - Recife Commando - Butterworth Commando - Stormberg Commando Free State - Brandfort Commando - Bultfontein Commando - Frankfort Commando - Lindley Commando - Phillipolis Commando - Sandrivier Commando - Sasol Commando - Welkom Commando - Wepener Commando Gauteng: - Group 16 - Alberton Commando - Brakpan Commando - Brits Commando - Broederstroom Commando - Germiston Commando - Johannesburg West Commando - Oospark Commando - Pretoria East Commando - Rietfontein Commando - Roodepoort Commando - Sandton Commando - Vereeniging Commando KwaZulu-Natal - Durban North Commando - Durban South Commando Limpopo - Soutpansberg Military Area - Letaba Commando - Phalaborwa Commando - Potgietersrus Commando - Soutpansberg Commando - Thabazimbi Commando - Warmbad Commando - Waterberg Commando Mpumalanga - Group 33 - Lebombovlakte Commando - Witbank Commando Northern Cape - Group 23 - Barkley West Commando - Prieska Commando North West - Group 30 - Coligny Commando - Delareyville Commando - Goosen Commando - Kalahari Commando - Klerksdorp Commando - Potchefstroom Commando - Rustenburg Commando - Zeerust Commando Western Cape - Blaauwberg Commando - Clanwilliam Commando - Paarl Commando - Stellenbosch Commando - Garden Route Commando - Karoo