Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

Australia’s high commissioner to South Africa has rejected the claim that his country’s defence force is recruiting skilled people from the SA National Defence Force.

But high commissioner Philip Green says the Australian government cannot stop SANDF people from applying for jobs advertised by the Australian Defence Force.

Green was commenting on recent report in Independent Newspapers that the Royal Australian Air Force was believed to have poached 30 senior engineers in just two months from the SA Air Force.

The chief of the SAAF, Lieutenant-General Carlo Gagiano, appealed to his Australian counterpart to stop the poaching. But Green said it was wrong to suggest that the Australian Defence Force was recruiting SA personnel.

“We have given a specific undertaking that there will be no recruiting of South Africans. However, there is an Internet portal by which people can look up what jobs the Australian Defence Force is offering. There is nothing we can do about that,” Green said.

SA’s generals have warned that the exodus of skills to foreign militaries and to civilian firms is undermining the ability of the SANDF to operate all its equipment and is therefore jeopardising national security.

Technicians at the Ysterplaat air force base in Cape Town had said that if the brain drain continues, the SAAF could lose all its top technicians by December.

A technician with nearly 20 years’ experience, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said morale was at an all-time low at all air force bases. He said “everyone” was talking about leaving for better benefits and higher salaries elsewhere.

Technicians in the same post in Australia go home with anything between R19 000 and R28 000 a month.

“The South African government shouldn’t be moaning – they should rather be reviewing their salary scales,” the technician said.