Defence South Africa

Defence department worried about civil claims

2007-02-07T07:38:00.001-08:00

February 03 2007
The department of defence said it had noted with concern media reports that it may have to pay R978 million in civil claims, it said on Friday.

Spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said allegations of murder, torture and assault of civilians by South African National Defence members were published in a certain newspaper.

According to the article, these crimes may result in the tax-payers being held liable for payment of civil claim against the department of R978-million.

"Accordingly, the matter is being closely pursued by the ministry and department of defence.

"The secretary for defence has instructed the defence legal division to request the journalist and the media organisation concerned to substantiate the allegations."

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota will "address the country on the matter" next week. - Sapa

Pierre Steyn speaks out about the arms deal

2007-02-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

Mail & Guardian 02 February 2007
Former secretary of defence Pierre Steyn has spoken out for the first time about the arms deal, revealing that he resigned in November 1998 over the decision to force through the purchase of British Aerospace (BAE) Hawk jet trainers at twice the cost of those of the Italian bidder favoured by the air force.

“In the end I resigned because, as secretary for defence, I was going to have to account for the costs to Parliament, which I couldn’t do,” Steyn told the Mail & Guardian.

Steyn has never before spoken publicly about the deal, although extracts have been published of an interview he gave to investigators from the auditor general’s office during the arms deal investigation.

His comments come in the midst of renewed focus on the controversial multi-billion rand weapons purchase.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, who first publicised allegations of corruption in the arms deal, this week flew to Europe to meet with investigators from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which is probing the contract for Hawk trainers and Gripen fighters. She will also meet with German prosecutors who are investigating large commissions paid on the deal to sell corvette warships to South Africa.

The M&G last month revealed that commissions of more than R1-billion were paid by BAE on the South African deal to some eight entities, including to the consulting business of Fana Hlongwane, the special adviser to the then defence minister, the late Joe Modise.

In his interview with the M&G, Steyn emphasised the role in the Hawk decision played not only by Modise, but by his two close associates, Ron Haywood and Llew Swan.

Modise appointed Haywood as chairperson of Armscor, the state defence procurement agency in 1995 and Swan as CE in August 1998.

“It was always Modise and his friends Haywood and Swan who had had their minds made up from the start,” Steyn recalled. “And there was, of course, also Chippy Shaik, whom I was told to appoint. It was clear he was there to follow the minister’s orders.”

Modise also brought Haywood, and later Swan, into Arms Acquisition Council (AAC) meetings where Modise intervened to shift the goalposts radically in favour of the purchase of the Hawk.

To keep down costs, the Air Force had initially proposed a two-tier approach, which would see pilots make a jump from the existing Pilatus propeller trainers straight to the proposed new frontline fighter, meaning the Hawk would not feature.

In November 1997 Modise insisted on a three-tier system, which meant calling for bids on a jet trainer that would allow pilots to get jet experience before taking on a supersonic aircraft.

Then, during the adjudication process, Modise urged officials to adopt a “visionary approach” in the case of the jet trainer purchase. “The most inexpensive option may not necessarily be the best option,” he told one AAC meeting.

Finally, when it was clear that, in terms of the official selection criteria, the Hawk would lose out to the Italian MB339, which was half the price, Modise instructed officials to prepare a ranking based on a “non-costed option” where price would not be a factor.

In his 2001 interview with the auditor general, Steyn’s anger was palpable: “Their choice for Hawk was patently clear from the start ... It was clear to most of us that the preferred choice of the minister and those who supported him, Haywood, Swan and company; the cost of that particular solution was almost double that of the MB339.”

Even at the crucial Cabinet subcommittee briefing on August 31 1998, where the decision to go for the BAE Hawk and Gripen was taken, Haywood and Swan were allowed to stay while Modise continued deliberations with then deputy president Thabo Mbeki and other ministers. But Steyn, as well as another top official who had raised objections to cost and procedure, had to leave.

Both Haywood and Swan deny pushing the Hawk. Swan points out he only joined Armscor in August 1998, when the tenders were already adjudicated. Asked about the Cabinet subcommittee meeting, Swan says he “kept quiet” as he had “just arrived” and “didn’t know what was going on”. “I didn’t have a clue,” he said.

Now Steyn says that with pressure being brought to bear in favour of the Hawk jets, as well as other contracts that he considered “rather expensive”, he could do “little more than alert the relevant structures to the lack of need for a three-tier system and the unaffordability of it all”.

“Minister Modise was clearly under the impression that this was a good idea and that costs shouldn’t matter, because we were going to get lucrative offset deals that would give us 65 000 jobs,” says Steyn. “I warned that the offers that were coming in merely contained vague promises of the kind that were not enforceable, but they wouldn’t listen.

The Hawk, according to Steyn, was “outdated even then -- and way too expensive”. However, Cabinet had taken a so-called “strategic” view; in keeping with Modise’s “visionary approach”; contracts would be decided not only by cost, but also on the basis of which partner in the European defence industry South Africa was going to develop long-term relations with.

On that basis it could be argued that the “biggest slice should go to the UK [United Kingdom]”, as a defence official put it recently.

However, says Steyn, “It is one thing to order the materials you need from a preferred trading partner and quite another to have trading partners decide what they want to sell and then modify your requirements to serve their wishes.” And that, Steyn thinks, is what happened.

Claims against SANDF set to cost taxpayers

2007-02-01T11:07:00.000-08:00

The Star: January 31, 2007
Hundreds of South African soldiers have been accused of killing, torturing and assaulting the very people they are supposed to protect - and taxpayers might have to fork out almost a billion rands in civil claims.

South African National Defence Force members are the accused in 287 serious criminal cases, recorded incidents of murder, shooting, assault and torture.

An investigation by The Star has also revealed that the most recent list of recorded criminal cases against army members includes 26 charges of murder, 22 of attempted murder, 15 of assault with grievous bodily harm, 25 of common assault, and 31 of reckless and negligent driving.

And the army's own legal services division has admitted in correspondence leaked to The Star that its failure to finalise civil claims made against South African peacekeepers in Burundi has become an embarrassment.

While 37 of the criminal cases against SANDF members are recorded as withdrawn or ending in acquittal, army documents suggest that the SANDF has lost track of what happened to a staggering 125 cases recorded by the army's legal services department. At best, the last recorded court date for these cases is noted four years ago.

Some 13 cases - including three of murder and one of culpable homicide - are listed as "dormant", while in 58 of the cases, the exact nature of the charges is not listed.

One of the claims, made by Burundian state witness Dobeye Jean Damacene, is for an air ticket that Damacene paid for in order to testify in the trial of Sergeant Flippie Venter, who is accused of the rape and murder of a teenage Burundian sex worker.

According to the Defence Department's 2006 financial statements, the army is facing civil claims of R978-million, with motor accident claims amounting to an additional R3,7-million.

Disturbingly, the vast majority of the 149 civil claims against the army involve alleged unlawful arrest and violence against members of the public - some of which claimed the lives of their victims.

In addition to four civil claims against the army for murder, two of which the army indicated it would settle, the Defence Department is currently facing 14 claims related to "shooting incidents", including two in which civilians were paralysed.

Another seven cases relate to the deaths of civilians, allegedly at the hands of army members, while a further 59 claims are related to assault committed by soldiers.

The SANDF was on Wednesday due to host the second day of its moral regeneration conference in Cape Town. The conference comes days after the Defence Department incurred the ire of opposition parties by advertising for applicants with "no record of serious criminal offence".

SANDF spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi later stated that the wording of the advertisement had been made in error.

In November last year, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told parliament that, between April 2005 and September 3, 891 crimes - allegedly committed by SANDF members - were reported to the army's military police agency. These offences, which add to the agency's 3 377 unfinalised cases carried over from 2004/2005, are believed to include 400 cases of sexual offences and the theft of military equipment.

Although the army's legal department usually provides legal assistance to SANDF members who have been criminally charged in civilian courts, it has refused requests for legal assistance in 12 cases - the majority of which involved incidents of alleged torture and assault.

In one of these cases, a sergeant stands accused of killing a member of the public during an interrogation. An SANDF inquest found the sergeant responsible for the civilian's death, and he was charged with murder, but it is not clear what happened to the case against him.

Mkhwanazi said the Defence Department was investigating what had happened to the cases unearthed by The Star. "Particularly in light of the moral regeneration conference, we take these issues very seriously. Where a member is found to be guilty, we will deal with them."

Criminal job advert

2007-01-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2007
The wording of department of defence advertisements calling for job applications from people who have no "serious" criminal record is an error, according to the defence ministry. "I am advised by the department that is a mistake," Sam Mkhwanazi, a spokesperson, said.

The adverts, for recruitment into military skills development programmes in the navy and air force, were placed in the Sunday Times. Under "minimum requirements", the advertisements say applicants must have "no record of a serious criminal offence".

However, Mkhwanazi said he was informed that this wording was carried over from an earlier, also erroneous, advert and that the new adverts had not been approved at a senior level. He said "any sort" of criminal record will disqualify an applicant.

Earlier today Andries Botha, the Democratic Alliance (DA) defence spokesperson, said it was disgraceful that the defence force and the department, both of which were designed to uphold the law, should be willing to take on people with criminal records.

"It sets the wrong example and undermines the department's desperate need to build a better, more effective and accountable defence force," he said. "There are millions of law-abiding unemployed citizens in South Africa whom the [department] should instead look to recruit."

He said he will ask Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, a parliamentary question to establish how many people currently employed by the defence force and department had criminal records, and which specific crimes the department did not regard as "serious criminal offences".

South Africa Will Not Send Troops to Somalia

2007-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

January 29, 2007
South Africa will not be sending troops to Somalia, but is continuing to asses what type of assistance it can offer the North African country.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad told BuaNews today that South Africa would not be sending any soldiers to Somalia as its peacekeeping force was stretched in other missions on the continent.

These include deployments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Burundi and Sudan's Darfur region.

The deputy minister told reporters at the Union Buildings today that Nigeria was preparing to send hundreds of its troops to Somalia for possible participation in an African peace-keeping force.

According to Mr Pahad, spokesperson for the Nigerian army, Colonel Ayo Olaniyan said a battalion was being prepared in the event that they were asked to contribute troops.

A battalion is an infantry unit commanded by a lieutenant colonel and consists of approximately 1 000 troops.

In addition, Mozambique was reconsidering whether it would contribute troops to peacekeeping forces deployed in Sudan and Somalia.

"Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota is still consulting with relevant departments to determine what other assistance we can provide to the African Union peace-keeping force in Somalia.

"He will then make recommendation to President Thabo Mbeki," said the deputy minister.

Regarding Sudan, Mr Pahad said last week rebel commanders in northern Darfur reported that government aircraft had hit three villages in the preceding weekend.

Mr Pahad said Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in an exclusive BBC interview had confirmed his troops carried out the bombardments.

"He said the government had no option but to strike as 80 percent of attacks on civilians in the region were carried out by rebel groups, undermining security," said Mr Pahad.

He said President Bashir also told the BBC that after signing the peace agreement with a leading rebel group in May 2006, rival rebels formed a new alliance called the National Salvation Front.

President Bashir said the group had received "massive military support in full view of the international community" and set out to target those who had signed the peace deal.

Militias have since carried out large-scale attacks on Sudan Liberation Movement positions in northern Darfur, controlling its movements, the Sudanese president said.

"We heard no condemnation of this movement or the countries supporting it. But as soon as we were forced to send armed troops to deal with it we heard talk of violations and a ceasefire breach," he told the BBC.

Sudan has witnessed fighting between rebels and the government, which has reportedly claimed more than 200 000 lives and displaced more than 2 million people since 2003.

Lekota involved in AMP scheming

2007-01-26T21:52:00.001-08:00

January 22 2007
ANC national executive committee chairperson and Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota was among the ANC heavyweights involved in intense talks with the Africa Muslim Party (AMP) in March last year in a bid to block the DA from taking power in the City of Cape Town.

In the past two months Lekota was reportedly also involved in behind-the-scenes discussions with the AMP and ID that almost toppled the DA-led multiparty government last week.

This emerged in a candid interview on Sunday with national chairperson of the AMP, Gulam Sabdia.

In the interview he outlined the route that led to the attempt by councillor Badih Chaaban to negotiate a coalition with the ANC and ID.

Defence department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said Lekota's involvement in talks with the AMP was a political issue that needed to be answered by the party.

Sabdia said the events that last week resulted in the AMP being booted out of the multi-party government and led to the inclusion of the ID in the DA-led coalition, should be understood in the context of last year's March 15 mayoral elections.

"In March, a week before we joined the multiparty government, we were in talks with the ANC," he said.

The plan was to form a coalition of the ANC, ID and AMP, but on the day of the mayoral elections, March 15, there was still no signed agreement between the three parties.

Sabdia said he told Lekota the ID were still not on board. The AMP had meanwhile agreed to a draft agreement with the DA and smaller parties, which was not yet signed.

Sabdia said the AMP later decided, when confronted by both the ANC and DA on the day of the council meeting, to vote with the DA.

"So the AMP joined the DA and smaller parties and the multiparty government was formed. We never looked back and we were fired up to get things done."

But Sabdia said the AMP has been increasingly frustrated with the DA-led council.

Only projects coming from DA-managed portfolios were being approved.

"(Mayor Helen) Zille is a good public relations person for a racist, apartheid-style party. It was supposed to be a coalition of equals, but instead we had to follow a DA agenda."

Sabdia said Chaaban had approached the ANC to get the ID involved in a new coalition.

The ID were allegedly offered four mayoral committee positions if they sided with the ANC and AMP.

But while there were talks, "nothing was concretised".

Sabdia confirmed that AMP talks with the ANC had been with the party's provincial and national leadership, especially with Lekota, who was a friend and lived nearby in Pretoria.

ANC provincial secretary Mcebisi Skwatsha said he knew nothing of the ANC national leadership's involvement in the talks, but confirmed that the provincial executive had been part of the discussions.

Sabdia said that while Chaaban had been "a bit rough" in his language, his only transgression had been a lack of communication with the party president, Wasfie Hassiem.

He said Chaaban would, at most, be reprimanded internally by the party for this.

"He has a chequered past, but he is not a gangster. He is just a businessman who is sometimes a bit too assertive."

Probe into gravy plane nears end

2007-01-26T21:50:00.000-08:00

January 24 2007

The presidency and the departments of defence and foreign affairs are among those who have been asked to make submissions to a government-appointed committee probing the hiring of private jets for top government officials.

Already two weeks into the job, head of the two-person inquiry Advocate Kgomotso Moroka said she hoped to wrap up the inquiry by April.

She said charter companies which had won tenders with the department of defence had also been invited to make submissions, while those charter companies who believed that they should be hired could also send in reports.

Moroka said she and her assistant, retired South African National Defence Force General Benno Smith, were essentially "reviewing departmental processes and procedures" to see whether these had been adhered to.

The inquiry comes after last year's furore over the millions spent on chartering planes for Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Her "gravy plane" woes started at the end of 2005 with her costly and controversial holiday to the United Arab Emirates. The outcry reached a climax when it was found that it had also cost about R4,5-million to charter a flight for Mlambo-Ngcuka to the United Kingdom last year.

At the time, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota described it as "shocking, irregular and out of proportion" and subsequently instituted the inquiry.

However, Lekota was quick to come to Mlambo-Ngcuka's defence, saying she was not responsible for her travel arrangements. He also ordered all flights chartered for senior politicians and VIPs between April 27, 2004 and December 10, 2006 be investigated, after allegations that the South African Air Force had a critical shortage of pilots and technicians.

Lekota's department is res-ponsible for transporting the president, deputy president, former presidents and VIPs, some ministers and senior SANDF officials.

The presidency and ministries of defence and foreign affairs used the service most frequently, Moroka said on Tuesday. She said she and Smith were working through defence force documents related to the case and expected to complete the process in April, thereby meeting the three month deadline set by Lekota.

She said depending on the submissions received, oral hearings might be held, but only as a means of clarification, and stressed that the committee's work was not public.

She said what happened after they had wrapped up their work was up to Lekota.

"Even if I find any wrong-doing I can't pass any judgment," Moroka said.

No SA troops to Somalia

2007-01-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

26 Jan 2007
South Africa will not be sending peacekeepers to Somalia, but will consider other support, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Thursday following a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.

Lekota and Mbeki met in Pretoria to discuss the feasibility of sending troops for a peace-keeping mission to the war-torn Somalia.

This followed concerns in the South African Government and military circles that sending more troops for another peace-keeping mission, would strain the country's defence resources.

Speaking after the meeting, Lekota said he supported the African Union and the United Nations' view that there was a need for a strong peace-keeping force in Somalia.

However, he said South Africa would not be able to send troops there because its force was already over stretched, as it was involved in similar missions in various parts of Africa.

Lekota said it was his view that sending more troops to Somalia could consequently jeopardise South Africa's effectiveness on the other missions it has already committed itself to.

Lekota's spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi said the minister and the defence department were currently investigating other ways in which South Africa's military could lend support to the Somalia mission.

"He (Lekota) would then give the appropriate advice to the President on what possible assistance could be rendered," Mkhwanazi added.

South Africa currently has forces deployed in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan as well as Ethiopia/Eritrea as part of peace-keeping missions in these countries. The AU and the UN last year urged African countries to assist by sending troops to Somalia to try to stabilise the country after the fall of the Islamic Court Union (ICU).

The ICU had run Somalia for about six months. Its leaders appointed themselves the governors of areas where Somalia's interim government had no authority.

Many other African countries, including Nigeria and Tanzania, are still considering the pros and cons of sending troops to Somalia.

The deployment may overstretch their military too. Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad said the AU's plan for peacekeeping in Somalia entailed sending at least nine battalions comprising 800 troops each in a bid to bring stability to the country.

Somalia has been without a formal government for 16 years. So far only Uganda has committed itself to sending 1 000 soldiers to Somalia, pending approval by the Ugandan parliament.

South Africa’s Pressing Nuclear Choices

2007-01-20T08:06:00.000-08:00

Taking advantage of an unusual nuclear history; an innovative, domestic nuclear power industry; and strong ties with other strategic countries, South Africa is emerging as a crucial bridge between developed and developing countries on nuclear issues. South Africa’s outspoken support for “all” country’s rights to develop nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes and its renewed interest in developing its own nuclear fuel cycle puts it at center stage in nonproliferation debates.

At the same time, its record as the only country to develop its own nuclear weapons and then renounce them has allowed it to challenge the nuclear-weapon states to meet their disarmament commitments under the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

South Africa has long played a prominent role in the Nonaligned Movement (NAM), which brings together developing countries. Moreover, it has forged close ties with Brazil and India on nuclear issues, and the three together yield considerable influence on nuclear issues as members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors.[1] In the next few months, it will also gain new power in the UN Security Council and as the next chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.[2] More than ever, therefore, South Africa’s nuclear policy can have significant implications in shaping the future of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. It has the potential to be a responsible model for other developing nations to follow or could prove to be a new problem by backing some states that have questionable motives.

Unique Past, Unique Present

South Africa once had the infrastructure to assemble a number of nuclear weapons. In 1989, however, the government gave up that path, admitted its nuclear weapons development, and disassembled the devices. Subsequently, South Africa joined the NPT and became an important voice in the nonproliferation regime, particularly as a representative of developing nations, including those in the NAM. In addition, South Africa is part of the New Agenda Coalition, an eight-state grouping that demands “the speedy, final and total elimination” of all nuclear weapons. These fora provide South Africa with an opportunity to convey its commitment to nonproliferation and disarmament efforts.

To this end, South Africa was one of the few countries recently to criticize the United Kingdom’s decision to build a new class of ballistic missile-capable submarines. In an official statement, the South African Department of Foreign Affairs called on the British government to honor its “unequivocal undertaking” toward nuclear disarmament made during the 2000 NPT review conference.[3]

South Africa’s long nuclear history has also laid the basis for a domestic nuclear industry of a size and sophistication unusual for developing countries, and it continues to develop new nuclear technologies that will equate to larger markets and increased revenue in the future.

South Africa’s nuclear industry is one of the most innovative in the world. It includes projects such as the pebble-bed modular reactor slated for construction beginning in 2007, which puts South Africa at the forefront of nuclear energy technologies. The pebble-bed reactor will be pioneering in its cost, safety (it avoids the complexities and low efficiencies of the steam cycle), design, and quality control. It will eventually provide 4,000-5,000 megawatts of power following module completion in 2013. The reactor will use down-blended weapons-grade uranium from former Russian nuclear warheads.[4]

The country also has the world’s fourth-largest uranium reserves[5] and significant experience in fuel production. South African officials are exploring the potential construction of new nuclear plants and re-invigorating South Africa’s nuclear fuel cycle.[6] Its strong web of bilateral and multilateral relationships could allow South Africa to grow as a major global supplier of nuclear technologies.[7]

Not surprisingly, South Africa has been a proponent of nuclear energy for all, arguing that all states adhering to the NPT have the basic and inalienable right to develop research and production capabilities for the peaceful use of nuclear energy without discrimination.[8] In particular, South Africa had resisted efforts to curb the spread of uranium-enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing technologies even though they can either provide fuel for nuclear reactors or fissile materials for nuclear weapons. This has brought it into conflict with some of the nuclear-weapon states that argue that Iran has used loopholes in their safeguards obligations under the NPT to develop nuclear weapons capabilities.

Additionally, since 2005, South Africa has been persistent in its effort to use highly enriched uranium in its currently operating Safari research reactor. It openly rejects efforts by the United States and other nuclear-weapon states to phase out the use of this weapons-ready material in civilian nuclear reactors, claiming that this approach undermines the right of states who have already committed to nonproliferation. In 2005, South African ambassador to the IAEA Abdul Minty affirmed “the need to guard against the imposition of any arrangement that may infringe on the inalienable right of states to the peaceful application of nuclear energy.”[9]

Moreover, South Africa’s brand of diplomacy also has raised concerns. South Africa is a strong advocate for the NAM, which it joined in 1994 and which provides it with an opportunity to strengthen nuclear ties with other developing countries. Its advocacy raises concerns for the United States, given that the organization also includes among its members such countries of proliferation concern as Iran and Syria.

In September 2006, during the 14th NAM summit in Havana, member states supported the rights of developing countries to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.[10] The final document, pointing to Article IV of the NPT, affirmed “the basic inalienable right of all states to develop research, production, and use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes without any discrimination and in conformity with their respective legal obligations.”[11]

Relations With Iran

South Africa has been a staunch supporter of Iran’s right to develop its nuclear infrastructure.[12] In December 2006, for example, South African ambassador to Iran Yusuf Saloojee said that “ Iran is a signatory to the NPT and is thus entitled to use peaceful nuclear technology.” South African officials seem to have paid less attention to the agreement reached during the 2000 NPT review conference in which states-parties agreed that the inalienable right should only include those parties that are also in compliance with Article III of the treaty, related to a country’s safeguards obligations.

Western countries argue that Iran forfeited its right to nuclear technologies because it was not in compliance with its safeguard obligations. Countering that argument, in August 2006 South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad asserted that the Iranian problem has been brought about “primarily due to the unequal implementation of the delicately balanced rights and obligations contained in the NPT itself.”[13] Pahad argued, “Few states doubt the inherent discriminatory nature of the treaty, which created two distinct groups: the haves and the have-nots.”[14] Many of those have-nots are developing countries.

In May 2006, South African officials and the foreign ministers of Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Syria, and Venezuela met with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. Afterward, South African Deputy Foreign Minister Sue van der Merwe spoke of stronger ties to Iran, particularly within the NAM framework, adding that Iran has been instrumental in providing regional stability.[15] After the meeting, Mottaki stated that, “[g]iven that today NAM member states more than ever have commonalities in the international scene, their coordination and close cooperation can create a powerful movement in the world.”[16] In August 2006, bilateral cooperation was strengthened when Mottaki met with a number of South African government officials, including Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Trade and Industry Mandisi Mpahlwa, and Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena.[17] South Africa may have also offered to transfer natural uranium to Iran for use in its program, although there is no indication that any such deal has been concluded.[18]

Additionally, Iran and South Africa have made other overtures to strengthen their nuclear cooperation. During the 61st annual session of the UN General Assembly in September 2006, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mbeki discussed points for strengthening bilateral relations in various fields, including the nuclear field.[19] This and other activities appeared to cause considerable concern in the international community. The United States sent Gregory Schulte, its ambassador to the IAEA, to South Africa to urge it to take a stricter stance on Iran’s nuclear issue.[20]

Nor has South Africa always been a responsible actor in nuclear trade. Since 2004, it has become apparent that some individuals and companies in South Africa supplied nuclear-related equipment to Libya as part of Abdul Qadeer Khan’s nuclear network.[21] The investigation and criminal proceedings continue at this time. They focus on Gerhard Wisser, a German engineer who was CEO of the South African-based Krisch Engineering, and Daniel Geiges, a Swiss mechanical engineer who served as managing director of Krisch Engineering in South Africa. Wisser and Geiges were allegedly involved in arranging the fabrication of gas-feed and withdrawal systems in the plans for a centrifuge-enrichment plant in Libya. Johan Meyer, a South African mechanical engineer also was arrested for his alleged involvement in Khan’s network. Meyer’s company, TradeFin Engineering, imported vacuum pumps from Spain and pressure sensors from German companies.[22]

In January 2004, Asher Karni, a naturalized South African resident and a salesman for the military and aviation electronics company Top-Cape Technology, was arrested for his involvement in the Khan network. Gotthard Lerch faces charges for his involvement in the nuclear smuggling network to obtain piping from South Africa and autoclave technology using blueprints from the 1980s from the nuclear industry leader Urenco.[23]

Subsequently, the South African government has put forth significant effort to arrest those involved in illicit transactions and deter others through stricter guidelines and stronger controls.

Conclusion

South Africa appears to have a nuclear policy with opposing objectives and points of view. Although it promotes the development of nuclear technologies almost to the detriment of the nonproliferation regime, it has been taking a more public leadership role in nonproliferation and disarmament efforts. To serve as a responsible voice, however, South Africa’s policy should have clarity, consistency, and equity. As it stands now, South Africa’s support for some countries and its stated interest to increase its own nuclear activities could prove damaging to its laudable nonproliferation and disarmament efforts.

South Africa is committed to the future of nuclear energy and has made clear that its program to develop its civilian nuclear program will focus on peaceful purposes. Sharing of its pebble-bed modular reactor technology, however, could prove threatening to the nonproliferation regime unless it closely monitors the exchange of this technology and imposes stricter controls on its own imports and exports.

South Africa should also work to promote a more multilateral, farsighted approach to nuclear technologies and material, as suggested by IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei.[24]

In short, South Africa must continue to strike a balance between supporting states’ rights to develop nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes and working to stop the progress of those that would use these technologies for the development of nuclear weapons. Through its unique position and leadership role in prominent international organizations, South Africa has an opportunity to steer the direction of the nuclear industry and the global nonproliferation regime in a positive direction. It should take it.

SA arms deal: Blair attacked

2007-01-20T07:56:00.001-08:00

January 18 2007 at 06:52AM
British opposition parties have called on Prime Minister Tony Blair to come clean over his involvement in a controversial R30-billion arms deal between the South African government and British arms manufacturers BAe.

As part of the deal, it has been widely alleged that R1-billion was paid in commissions to a number of South African business leaders and politicians.

Liberal Democrats leader Menzies Campbell told The Star on Wednesday night: "The British government and the prime minister must give assurances that they will provide all the support required for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to conclude its investigations involving BAe and South Africa".

The deal dates back to 1999, when BAe won a contract to supply SA with military aircraft, including 24 Hawk fighter trainers, at allegedly double the price of a rival Italian bidder.

The matter was raised in the British parliament on Wednesday, where Campbell challenged Blair on the issue, including controversial deals that were also struck with Saudi Arabia and Tanzania.

But Blair insisted he was acting in the best interest of the public, with their concerns at heart, "and the thousands of jobs" created as a result of the multi-billion-pound deals.

However, British journalist David Leigh, of The Guardian newspaper, who has written in detail about the BAe scandal and Blair's involvement in it, told The Star on Wednesday that Blair had travelled the length and breadth of the world promoting sales on behalf of BAe that had little to do with British interests.

"He has travelled to South Africa to sell Hawk planes. He has promoted the sales of military radar to Tanzania. He promoted Hawk aircraft to India. And he even bullied the Czech government into buying Gripen planes which BAe was marketing.

"And basically everywhere he has gone, he has left a trail of corruption in his wake," Leigh alleged.

"But the truth of the matter," contends Leigh, "is that BAe has influence with a large number of politicians. For example, Lord Charles Powell is on BAe's payroll. Powell's brother, Jonathan, is Tony Blair's chief of staff. Now you draw your own conclusions," he said.

Speculation over Blair's involvement comes as the South African government finds itself under renewed pressure by British and German investigators to step up the investigation. Six years on, they are still probing the alleged payment of massive kickbacks to heavyweights in the government and business.

But it seems the state is in no hurry to provide the British government with help in tracking R1-billion in "commissions" allegedly paid by BAe to eight South African businesses and a political adviser since 1992.

Senior BAe executives, including chief executive Mike Turner and former chairperson Dick Evans, were named on Tuesday as suspects in the SFO's corruption investigation.

Six months after the SFO asked for help from South African authorities, however, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is still sitting on the request.

Equatorial Guinea's request to question Mark Thatcher about his role in an alleged coup plot in the oil-rich country took less than a week to be approved by Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.

While such requests are usually okayed by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Justice Department spokesperson Zolile Nqayi on Wednesday said his office was "not aware of any request".

NPA spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi confirmed that a request had been received, but said it was "still being dealt with".

Scorpions spokesperson Lucinda Moonieya on Wednesday said that "whatever assistance (the SFO) request, we will give them".

As yet, the NPA has been unable to give any timeframes for the processing of the request.

Retired judge Willem Heath, who was excluded from investigating the arms deal by President Thabo Mbeki in January 2001, said he was "not surprised" that British authorities were still waiting for co-operation from the South African government.

"They can hardly co-operate when doing so would be a concession that there was something to investigate.

"Should the South African government continue to not co-operate with the British authorities, however, it will have seriously repercussions for our relationship with the UK.

"Why should they help our justice authorities when we have seemingly failed to assist them?" said Heath.

He said he had "mixed feelings" about the international arms deal investigations.

"I'm grateful that there is proof out there … but nobody likes to be told that their country is corrupt, especially when it is another country that is telling them," he said.

Independent Democrats leader Patricia de Lille, who, like Heath, has been at the centre of the arms scandal since she released her dossier in parliament in September 1999, announced yesterday that she is to fly to England and Germany to meet investigators.

"I will be flying to London shortly to meet with the Serious Fraud Office and to Germany to meet their National Prosecuting Authority for discussions over the arms deal enquiry," she said.

Arms deal: New bribe probe launched

2007-01-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

A former adviser to the defence ministry, now in the arms-manufacturing, supply and export business, is being investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for allegedly receiving substantial kickbacks from BAe Systems - the British company that won the contract to supply South Africa with 24 Hawk 100 trainer jets.

Britain's Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday that businessman Fana Hlongwane, a former adviser to defence minister Joe Modise, who died in 2001, was being investigated for receiving "substantial payments" from BAe Systems.

Hlongwane was reported to have been in a position to influence who would be awarded the £1,5-billion (about R21 billion) contract. It was won by BAe, although BAe charged nearly twice the price of a rival Italian bidder for its aircraft. The investigation centres on claims of substantial payments to Hlongwane while he was Modise's adviser. At the time, Hlongwane was also a director of the parastatal arms company Denel, and of Osprey, a company BAe named as its agent handling commissions paid in South Africa.

'BAe made a substantial donation to the ANC after the contract was signed'
Questions were raised about the aircraft-acquisition component of the arms deal when Modise changed the formula by which the winning bidder would be chosen. BAe and Saab won the bid to supply the Hawks and 28 Gripen fighter jets.

BAe has acknowledged that it paid tens of millions of pounds in secret commissions to win the bid. The company originally intended to pay 12 percent of the contract price in commissions, but agreed to cut that back to 7 percent - more than £100 million - following questions from the British authorities underwriting the deal.

BAe made a substantial donation to the ANC after the contract was signed.

Hlongwane is a former Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) high command member. He was part of the high command delegation that testified before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the ANC armed wing's actions in South Africa during the struggle to end apartheid.

Hlongwane - once wined and dined by Tony Yengeni's co-accused, Michael Woerfel, the former European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company South African representative - is reported to own most of Ivema, a company that "provides innovative and specialised solutions for defence, security and humanitarian aid clients". He is also a part owner of a military vehicle company, Uri.

Hlongwane employed former South African National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda, who since his departure from the SANDF has been an Ivema board member and security consultant, as the chief executive officer and managing director of Ngwane Defence Group, launched by Jeff Radebe, the transport minister, at last year's Africa Aerospace and Defence expo.

Ngwane is a majority black-owned and controlled South African company run by former MK and SANDF commanders. Its main focus areas are military vehicles, small- and medium-calibre weapons, security and humanitarian aid.

According to Business Day, 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.

Hlongwane could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

According to the Guardian report, the Scorpions were handling a "mutual legal assistance" request from the SFO to investigate Hlongwane's financial accounts in relation to the 1999 deal.

Allegations of corruption related to the controversial multibillion-rand arms procurement process were earlier lodged against Modise. These included that Modise had received a £500 000 bribe from BAe and $10-million from a German consortium contracted to sell submarines to South Africa.

While the Scorpions claimed not to know of a joint investigation with the SFO into Hlongwane's role in the arms deal, the SFO would neither confirm nor deny the report yesterday. Scorpions spokesperson Makhosini Nkosi said yesterday that he was not aware of any "mutual legal assistance" between his organisation and the SFO. He said he had never heard of Fana Hlongwane before.

Patricia de Lille, who produced a dossier of evidence supporting allegations that ANC politicians and business people were involved in irregularities around the arms deal, welcomed the SFO probe. She said she would travel to Germany soon to give information to prosecutors investigating claims of corruption in the supply of warships to South Africa by Thomson CSF and Thyssen Krupp.

The Guardian reported on the South African investigation soon after the British government abruptly halted an SFO inquiry into bribes allegedly paid by BAe to Saudi royals. It reported that British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain's security would be endangered if the investigation continued.

No freebies for the Mbekis

2007-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

In contrast to the British leader Tony Blair and South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, President Thabo Mbeki is apparently not taking any freebies and is taking his holidays according to the rule book.

Mukoni Ratshitanga, Mbeki's spokesperson, said that the president had taken no one except his wife and "essential security personnel" on his recent vacation to Tanzania's Serengeti plains.

Ratshitanga was responding to information received from Kenya by The Sunday Independent that Mbeki had spent a number of days last week at the Sasakwa Hill Lodge on the Grumeti Reserve in the Serengeti.

According to the information, the president had been accompanied by a "large party of perhaps close to 20 people" during his stay.

Ratshitanga said on Saturday: "The president told me clearly that this was absolutely incorrect. He took only his wife and necessary security people. He did not even take some of the other support personnel that he is entitled to take."

Ratshitanga would not confirm the president's venue or the precise dates of his holiday. Since the party consisted solely of the president and Zanele Mbeki, the first lady, Ratshitanga also declined to discuss the cost of the president's vacation or who footed the bill.

Mark Witney, the general manager of the South African Singita group that owns Sasakwa Hill Lodge, said that the present rate at the lodge was $800 (about R5 600) per night per person sharing.

Witney would not confirm or deny that Mbeki had stayed at Sasakwa.

This week in England, a furore broke out over Blair having borrowed a luxury home from Robin Gibb, the Bee Gees star, for a family holiday. When he returns, Blair faces the prospect of a parliamentary inquiry.

Downing Street was adamant that accommodation in the £5,2-million, 10-bedroom mansion had been paid for in "a private commercial arrangement".

Gibb's wife, Dwina, was reported to have said the couple had neither asked for, nor accepted, money.

John Campbell, the singer's co-manager, added: "It's a private holiday and it's a private arrangement. They are friends."

But sources insisted that Campbell had originally accepted payment from Blair, but that the Gibb family had chosen to donate the cash to a charity. What remained unclear was whether this payment was a token or the full going rate.

Earlier this month, Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, set up an inquiry to investigate the R4,55 million spent on a charter flight for Mlambo-Ngcuka to Britain.

Also earlier this month, the Democratic Alliance raised concerns about the deputy president's official visits to Portugal and Ireland, allegedly in a private jet |co-owned by Pick 'n Pay chairman Raymond Ackerman and businessman Aaron Searll.

In December 2005 Mlambo-Ngcuka's holiday in Dubai cost taxpayers R604 883, excluding VIP protection. Mlambo-Ngcuka was later cleared by Shauket Fakie, the auditor-general, and Lawrence Mushwana, the public protector.

But Mushwana's report did reveal that Mlambo-Ngcuka had also enjoyed a state-sponsored three-day London holiday ahead of the Dubai trip. This had cost taxpayers R63 160, excluding VIP protection costs.

Racial Quotas In The South African Air Force

2006-12-25T16:07:00.000-08:00

The South African Air Force (SAAF) has a morale problem. The government has been trying to integrate previously all white institutions. This has been most difficult in areas that require lots of technical training and education. Like pilots. The government has set a racial goal for SAAF pilots, and wants them to be 75 percent black and 25 percent white. Currently, it is 19 percent black and 81 percent white. The morale problem arose when, recently, three top rated graduates of pilot training school, who would normally go on to fly fighters, were told that, because they were white, they would instead fly helicopters or transports. Three, less qualified black pilots would go on to fly fighters. When commanders noted the morale problem, and public outcry, they declared that it was no longer the policy to send the best pilots to fighters, but to spread the best pilots around to all flying communities. The problem here is that, flying fighters is the technically most demanding job for pilots, and the best pilots only stay in the SAAF to fly fighters. If they wanted to fly helicopters or transports, they could make more money, and fly more often, as civilian pilots. So the SAAF will end up with less competent fighter pilots (which will probably result in more accidents), and fewer, and less capable, helicopter and transport pilots as well. Since the SAAF pilots are currently 81 percent white, their morale will remain quite low until enough of them retire or quit to reach the government’s goal of 75 percent black pilots. Even with the current situation, it won’t be easy getting that many black pilots, as blacks with the skills to be pilots tend to prefer better paying civilian jobs. And there aren’t many black pilots to begin with. In the long run, this won’t mean much, beyond a higher accident rate for military aircraft, and some lost aircraft. This has been the case in other African countries, where most, or all, air force pilots are black. South Africa has no enemies in its neighborhood, and little likelihood that the SAAF would have to go to war.

Why SA’s Rooivalk dreams just will not fly

2006-12-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

IF DENEL clinches the Rooivalk deal with Turkey, it will be a miracle — and I do not believe in miracles. A decision of the French lower house of parliament on October 12, and the Turkish government’s reaction to this decision, have virtually ruled out any possibility of Denel selling the Rooivalk attack helicopter to the Turkish air force. Yet last month, Denel’s CEO was still putting a positive spin on the deal. So what does the decision of the French parliament have to do with the prospect of selling the Rooivalk to Turkey? On October 12, the lower house of the French parliament passed a bill making it a crime to deny the Armenian genocide. The bill is unlikely to become law as the French senate is not contemplating proceeding with the bill.

Nevertheless, the controversial decision of the French MPs was sufficient to raise the ire of the Turkish government, which severed military ties with France. The severing of military ties means that Turkey will no longer purchase French weaponry. The Rooivalk relies on French engines, and it is highly unlikely the Turks will be prepared to buy a French arms component that comes via SA in the form of a completed weapon system.

Denel and AgustaWestland of Italy have been the two short-listed companies bidding for the tender to manufacture 30 attack helicopters for the Turkish air force.

Notwithstanding the draft bill of the French parliament, AgustaWestland has the clear advantage over Denel not only for technical reasons, but for political reasons as well.

One reason that AgustaWestland’s A129 Mangusta is a stronger contender than the Rooivalk is that it carries the US-made Hellfire missile, which Denel was unable to use for its attack helicopter because of an apartheid-era spy scandal.

But it is more likely that political considerations will determine the outcome of the competition between the two bidders.

Turkey has been seeking European Union (EU) membership for many years and Italy has expressed itself as a strong supporter of Turkey’s right to join the EU. Furthermore, signing the Mangusta deal with an Italian company will be a continuation of long-established arms industry co-operation. SA has yet to initiate any meaningful co-operation in this field.

It is clear that Denel has already lost the helicopter race. It is time both Denel and the South African government disabuse themselves of the illusion that they can successfully market and sell their so-called state-of-the art war machine.

Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin needs to face Denel’s Rooivalk failure, which has cost the South African taxpayers billions of rand.

When, not if, Turkey formally rejects SA’s tender, Turkey will join a long list of countries that were touted by Denel as potential customers of the Rooivalk. Some of these are: Spain, Sweden, South Korea, Greece, Malaysia, Australia and China. Despite the massive vote of no confidence in the Rooivalk, both Denel and Erwin continue to pin their hopes on the Rooivalk coming to the rescue of the bankrupt parastatal arms industry. There is just one solution to Denel and Erwin’s profligacy and daydreaming: scrap the Rooivalk, which has become SA’s albatross.

Pirates can bloody SA waters

2006-12-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

Ruthless sea pirates who plunder hundreds of ships each year off the coast of Africa are moving south, threatening South African waters, experts have warned.

The United Nations Security Council and international maritime safety organisations have urged the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to take drastic action against gangs of heavily armed pirates.

The calls follow South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils' warnings last year that sea piracy was creeping closer and closer to South Africa and that the country needed to "move swiftly" and establish good intelligence networks to stop pirate attacks.

Between January and November, 48 ships were attacked around Africa by gangs of pirates armed with an assortment of weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles, rocket propelled grenades, armed helicopters and heavy calibre machine-guns such as anti-aircraft guns.

Pirates, many of whom operate "phantom" ships disguised as vessels in distress, use intelligence operatives stationed at Richards Bay, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town harbours to feed organised crime syndicates with information detailing sailing times, destinations, routes, cargos and numbers of crew.

The warning of pirate attacks occurring in South African waters comes as the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO) release their statistics on world pirate attacks.

According to the IMB and IMO, between January and September 174 ships were attacked by pirates worldwide. This is down from the 205 attacks in 2005. Of the 174 attacks, pirates boarded 113 vessels, hijacked 11, took 163 sailors hostage, including 14 Nigerian naval officers, kidnapped 20 sailors and murdered six.

According to the IMB, the latest attack in SADC waters took place 10 days ago when 15 pirates in a high-powered speedboat attacked a container ship waiting to berth in Dar es Salaam harbour in Tanzania.

Two days before the attack, 10 Somali pirates hijacked a general cargo vessel travelling from Richards Bay to the United Arab Emirates off the Somali coast using a helicopter gunship and several specially modified speedboats. The ship was carrying charcoal. The attack took place near the port of Mogadishu.

The IMB said a group in control of parts of Somalia dispatched several high-powered speed boats to chase the vessel. Following a fierce four-hour gunfight, the search and recovery team, who killed two pirates and arrested eight others, regained control of the vessel and returned it to its owners. Unconfirmed reports said 30 surface-to-surface missiles were seized.

Tshwane University of Technology safety and security department lecturer Henri Fouche said the escalation of attacks showed it was just a matter of time before South Africa was targeted.

"It is clear that pirates are moving their operations further south as they discover there are few, if any, navies operating in southern African waters, especially around countries like Mozambique, Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros and Namibia.

"This means pirates will continue to move south, coming closer to South Africa where yachts, fishing ships and cargo vessels will be attacked," Fouche said.

He said another reason South Africa and other SADC countries were becoming a major target for pirates was the recent discovery of oil and gas off the Tanzanian coast and the fact that six million tons of oil were transported around South Africa's western coast every month making this "a gem" for pirates.

He said: "It is therefore imperative that we start assist our neighbouring countries to stop these attacks before they reach our shores."

IMB director Captain Pottengal Mukundan said the number of pirate attacks, especially along Africa's west and east coasts, was an "extreme cause for concern".

"The attacks which have taken place along the sea borders of countries such as Somalia and Nigeria are very worrying, especially with the amount of violence used," he said.

"In the past, our main area of concern when it came to pirate attacks was South East Asia, but our focus is shifting to Africa where the attacks are both increasing and becoming more violent.

"We are worried about Africa because of the lack of naval forces and law enforcement agencies on the continent which can successfully counter these criminals," he said.

Mukundan said South Africa needed to step in and help its neighbours and other SADC countries if piracy was to be eradicated from the region's waters.

He said the assistance would have to be in the form of resources, money and training.

Army Aids policy under fire

2006-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

On the eve of World Aids Day Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has been blasted for his “apparent callous disregard” for the health of soldiers in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

According to a reply given in Parliament the last comprehensive health and fitness assessment of the SANDF took place six years ago on 10 000 air force members, sailors and soldiers.

This assessment put the prevalence of HIV-Aids in the force at 23%. Lekota told the legislature that figure remained valid.

He said the projection was based on figures provided by the Department of Health, since “the SANDF is a mirror image of the population at large”.

Democratic Alliance (DA) defence spokesman Roy Jankielsohn said the statistics were “way out of date”.

“A recent Medical Research Council survey involving 1,37 million people found an HIV infection rate of 35%.

“And the SANDF is far from being a mirror of the general population. It consists mostly of young men who spend much of their time away from their spouses.

“The biggest problem is that we do not know the HIV status of our troops, because of the Department of Defence’s lackadaisical attitude,” Jankielsohn said.

The provision of anti-retroviral drugs to only those “whose immune systems have deteriorated to dangerous levels”, showed a total lack of commitment to health care by the military.

“With proper treatment, HIV-positive troops would have a chance of maintaining health and fitness. This a classic case of too little, too late,” Jankielsohn said.

SA to increase troops in Darfur

2006-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Having withdrawn some peacekeeping contingents from other African countries, South Africa (SA) is planning to increase the number of its troops in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region.

Sources reveal that the South African troops in Sudan’s Darfur have already been sent Mamba vehicles to replace their soft skin vehicles.

Meanwhile, peacekeeping is costing the South Africa about R800 million a year, some of which is repaid by either the UN or the AU. Brig-Gen John Church, SA National Defence Force director of peacekeeping operations told a group of high ranking officers visiting South African troops deployed outside the country’s borders.

South Africa’s defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota argues that it is money well-spent because "South Africa would never be stable unless Africa is stable". He said the refugees and illegal foreigners would keep coming to South Africa as long as there was war in their countries.

South Africa is one of the top ten troop-contributing countries to United Nations peacekeeping operations. This is beside short missions such the one in the Comores to secure that country’s election. And this from a country which was only supposed to be ready for peacekeeping operations in 2008. In 2001 South Africa became the first country to deploy troops in the then highly unstable Burundi.

The UN followed only two years later after the country was more secure. "We went in alone and the learning curve was high," Church said, adding that: "We had to learn to work with other forces, respect each other and respect the local population."

Air force is operationally ineffective

2006-12-23T09:28:00.000-08:00

The South African Air Force (SAAF) can transport VIPs or be combat ready, not both, said the Democratic Alliance (DA) on Wednesday.

"The few remaining resources that the SAAF has will either have to be used for transporting VIPs or maintaining combat readiness. It cannot do both," said DA spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn.

"The fact is that there is a crisis in the SAAF that has once again been highlighted by the hiring of an aircraft for R4,55-million to take the deputy president [Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka] to the United Kingdom, while the SAAF has already acquired aircraft at a huge cost to do so."

The Defence Ministry, responsible for the deputy president's travel arrangements, said earlier that the South African National Defence Force had hired the plane for Mlambo-Ngcuka's flight without top-level authorisation, and that this had nothing to do with Mlambo-Ngcuka.

Jankielsohn said the SAAF faces a major crisis, as its airfields are not being maintained properly, and between 2004 and October 2006, 535 technicians and 70 pilots had resigned from the SAAF.

"The SAAF now faces a crisis of who will fly and service not only VIP jets, but also the 24 Hawk lead-in fighter trainers, 26 Gripen advanced light fighter aircraft, eight Airbus A400m aircraft, four maritime helicopters, 12 Rooivalk helicopters and the various other aircraft that are costing taxpayers billions of rands over the next few years," he said.

"The lack of funds, together with the loss of skills, means that our air force is operationally ineffective."

On Wednesday, Mlambo-Ngcuka's spokesperson, Thabang Chiloane, said he was not able to comment on the issue as it was a defence-force responsibility.

He said Mlambo-Ngcuka's use of commercial flights "depends on defence's security clearance".

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota is in the Democratic Republic of Congo and his spokesperson, Sam Mkhwanazi, was not available for comment.

Costly presidential flights: Where are the rules?

2006-12-23T09:27:00.000-08:00

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to Presidency Director General Frank Chikane, asking him what progress has been made in updating the draft presidential handbook following Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's recent multimillion-rand flight to the United Kingdom in a hired Swiss jet.

Flying Mlambo-Ngcuka to the UK cost taxpayers an estimated R4,55-million, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday. This was "irregular and way out of proportion with reasonable standards", Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said in a statement.

The plane had been hired by someone in the Department of Defence without authorisation from the ministry, the secretary for defence or the acting chief of the South African National Defence Force.

DA MP Gareth Morgan noted in a statement on Monday that the Public Protector had in August made the recommendation that issues of travel by members of the Presidency should be incorporated into the handbook and discussed by the Cabinet "as a matter of urgency".

Morgan noted that after last year's holiday trip by the deputy president to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, he had written to the Public Protector to request an investigation.

The protector had then found that the deputy president had not acted improperly, but he acknowledged that there was a need to tighten up the way in which the Presidency made travel arrangements -- including that the secretary of the Cabinet take urgent steps to ensure that the handbook dealt with these matters.

Morgan said: "However, this latest incident brings attention back to the fact that the deputy president has made a habit of embarking on expensive overseas travel, sometimes for holiday purposes, at the expense of the taxpayer."

This was the deputy president's third brush with travel-expense controversy following her trip to the United Arab Emirates and a R75 000 flight to a golf tournament in Sun City earlier this year, "which lasted all of 13 minutes", noted Morgan.

Meanwhile, Freedom Front Plus MP Pieter Groenewald welcomed Lekota's announcement that a board of inquiry would investigate the costs of the UK flight.

Groenewald said, in a statement, that the fact that there were not enough pilots available in South Africa to fly the South African Air Force's presidential jets "is just further proof of the total collapse experienced by the air force as a result of government's affirmative action and transformation policies".

He noted that his party asked Lekota last year in Parliament about the number of black pilots trained to fly the presidential jets "and was assured by the minister that there was one qualified pilot and a further four in training. It is, however, not known how many of the pilots in training completed successfully since last year."

SA to train troops in central Africa

2006-12-23T09:26:00.000-08:00

South Africa has come out in support of the beleagured government of the Central African Republic and will start providing training to its armed forces within the next few weeks.

This promise was made by Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, after talks with President Francois Bozize in Bangui on Friday. He had led a team of defence ministry officials and armed forces generals on a fact-finding mission to the CAR.

In the past few months, rebels from the volatile north-east of the country have captured several towns in diamond-rich areas in a march on Bangui, which lies on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

They say they intend to sell diamonds to pay for arms. Bozize turned to South Africa for help, after observing its successes in helping to bring a peaceful transitional to the DRC.

Lekota said South Africa decided to send a fact-finding mission because it had a |bi-national agreement with CAR.

Bozize asked for armed intervention, but Lekota had explained on an earlier mission that such a move would be against the South African constitution.

South Africa is committed to multilateral action under the auspices of the African Union. But Lekota also said AU principles declared that only democratically elected governments could take part in its forums.

This implies that such governments should be supported and |it is in this context that South Africa agreed to train an as yet undetermined number of troops.

Lekota said South Africa was seeking to bring stability to the CAR and in the process also to its neighbouring countries, most of whom are trapped in their own conflicts. Dissidents must use elections to take power from an incumbent and not through force, he added.

The minister said the CAR was still visibly underdeveloped, and its troops needed exposure to proper disciplinary practices.

They also needed better equipment and facilities and Lekota promised to raise the possibility of further military aid with the cabinet.

Bozize said, with the aid of the international community, the rebellion would be dealt with in "very little time".

In a briefing before the talks, Lekota said the rebels wanted to negotiate a power-sharing deal with the government and hinted that South Africa could broker a ceasefire.

But after meeting with Bozize, he appeared to reject talks with the rebels, asking: "Negotiate what?"

The government is having trouble subduing the rebellion because the population has turned out to be indifferent to its outcome, and not prepared to take up arms to defend the government.

Bozize is himself a rebel leader who came from the same area, but is being accused of sidelining his former comrades for members of his family.

Bozize's son, who, as deputy minister of defence, is second in command of the armed forces, was also present at the meeting with Lekota.

Bozize came to power in a bloodless coup in 2003, but was elected as president in a general election found to be free and fair by international observers last year.

The rebellion is exacerbated by the fact that the citizens of CAR, and its neighbouring countries, ignore borders. This has allowed fighting in Darfur, Sudan and Chad to spill over on to CAR territory.

Another factor is the presence of a permanent French military base near Bangui's airport. French fighter aircraft have launched attacks on the rebels, but, on at least one occasion, refrained from doing so, which CAR officials fear could indicate French support for the rebels.

Jean-Pierre Bemba, the losing challenger in the DRC presidential elections, stands accused by human rights prosecutors of atrocities committed by his troops in rushing to the aid of Ange-Felix Patassé, Bozize's predecessor.

Bemba's home province of Equateur lies across the Bangui River, a tributary of the Congo River. - Foreign Service

Inquest into Phumzile's UK trip

2006-12-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

A flight to Britain by South Africa's deputy president that cost R4.55m and was ordered without authorisation will be investigated, the minister of defence said on Saturday.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and her staff were on a working visit to Edinburgh and London, for which the Defence Department hired a plane without authorisation from the ministry, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said.

"The extraordinary cost associated with the hiring of the plane was irregular and way out of proportion with reasonable standards," Lekota said in a statement, adding that he would set up an inquiry board to investigate the matter.

Lekota said, however, that Mlambo-Ngcuka herself was not at fault. "Any attempt to suggest that either the staff of the Presidency or the deputy president herself is to blame must be rejected with the contempt it deserves," he said.

The Defence Department has sole responsibility for the air transport of the Presidency, Lekota said.

Mlambo-Ngcuka has been in criticised for similar issues twice before, however, after an air force plane was used to transport her and her family for a private trip to the United Arab Emirates last year, as well as a 13-minute ride to a golf tournament at the nearby Sun City resort.

On the most recent incident, a Johannesburg newspaper reported that a plane had to be flown from Switzerland to take Mlambo-Ngcuka and her entourage to the Britain because there were not enough trained pilots in South Africa. On her return to South Africa, the plane would have to be flown back to Switzerland, it said.

A first-class return ticket from Johannesburg to London and Glasgow would cost about R52 000 per person, the paper reported. It was not clear how many people were travelling with the deputy president.

The opposition welcomed the inquiry into the flight, but said Mlambo-Ngcuka could not be absolved of all blame for her "conspicuous expenditure" in a country with millions of poor people.

"If she was on board the flight, she must take political responsibility," said Motlatjo Thetjeng, member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance, in a statement.

He said the party would review the matter and, if necessary, refer it to the Public Protector for further investigation.

Crime tarnishes image of SANDF

2006-12-23T09:16:00.000-08:00

In the past 18 months the Military Police have investigated thousands of their colleagues in the South African National Defence Force (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 South African 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.

War is too much of a man's thing

2006-11-28T06:50:00.000-08:00

The armed forces in Southern Africa are moving too slowly towards gender transformation, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said.

"It is still considered a man's thing, war is considered a man's thing... where is the basis of this backwards attitude of men?" Lekota asked, citing several examples of woman leaders in South African history.

He was speaking at a two-day seminar in Centurion on the role of women in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) defence forces.

"The struggle for equality must be fought... intelligence does not only reside in those who wear trousers and grow beards."

Lekota said he still had a struggle with some male generals in the defence force when the promotion of women to positions of command was considered.

But he said women were also to blame, citing what he called the "pull her down" syndrome, in which women fight among each other and act behind the backs of those who were promoted.

"It is only when you act in unity that you can support and build one another and become a force to be reckoned with within the defence establishments," he said.

The participation of women in the defence forces needed to be an integral part of planning.

"Increasingly our governments ponder how to increase the level of participation of women in the defence forces of the countries in the region. We seem not to find the right formula but we must soldier on until viable and sustainable strategies are found."

Lekota asked the meeting to come up with concrete ideas and time frames for implementing them.

Among the issues being discussed by women were their involvement in peace and security operations, the status of women in defence forces and increasing gender equity in the defence forces.

A medal for fraud and illegal firearm

2006-11-24T15:55:00.000-08:00

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.”

The Zimbabweans are coming

2006-11-24T15:53:00.000-08:00

South Africa has temporarily scrapped stringent visa requirements for Zimbabweans, say reports.

It was reported that this emerged during the second session of the Zimbabwe-South Africa Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security in Harare.

SA Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told the session on Thursday that the two countries' home affairs ministers would meet as a matter of urgency on the issue of visas.

Lekota added: "Existing arrangements have been suspended. No more (stringent) visa requirements subject to further consideration by the two governments."

He rejected claims that Zimbabweans were fuelling crime in SA. It could not be assumed that Zimbabweans were largely responsible for crime in SA.

The minister said: "There is nothing to suggest that Zimbabweans are exclusive to crime problems we have. It's not the position of the government of SA."

Lekota also touched on complaints by Zimbabwean migrant workers that they were being arrested and deported each time they sought their pay from SA employers.

The media in both countries should help by reporting on the disadvantages and dangers of working illegally in any country.

Lekota said it was important for Zimbabweans to have the required documents to work in SA for them to avoid the embarrassment of being rounded up and deported.

Low wages paid to Zimbabwean workers without proper documents negatively affected the SA labour market as many employers now chose to underpay their staff.

Lekota said Southern African Development Community countries were working on an integrated economic vision, which would see workers in the sub-region enjoying equal rights.

He said: "We want a common regime that protects workers' rights."

Jobs for arms fall short

2006-11-18T14:12:00.000-08:00

THE offset programme of the strategic defence procurement package is expected to deliver only a quarter of the direct and indirect jobs promised by cabinet ministers at the time the controversial R30bn arms contracts were signed about six years ago.

A government official has made the first admission that arms contractors were likely to create only 2000-3000 direct jobs via offset investments by 2011, and not the 12000 promised at the time by then trade and industry minister Alec Erwin.

In his special report on the arms deal tabled in Parliament in 2000, auditor-general Shauket Fakie referred to government estimates that the offsets from the arms contracts would result in industrial participation commitments of R110bn, which would create more than 65000 job opportunities. Using the multiplier of one direct job creating five indirect jobs in use at the time, this meant about 12000 direct jobs would be created.

The five largest suppliers, including aircraft suppliers Saab and BAE Systems, were obliged contractually to facilitate $13,6bn (R99,4bn) in sales and investment in new economic activity in SA over several years.

But trade and industry chief director Sipho Zikode said Erwin, who is now public enterprises minister, was probably referring to the entire national industrial participation programme and not just its defence component.

Zikode said the entire national industrial participation programme was expected to create 15000 direct jobs, or 45000 indirect jobs, if a conservative multiplier of three was used.

This was clearly not the understanding Erwin and other cabinet ministers gave at the time they were trying to sell the controversial arms deal to a sceptical public.

However, Zikode stressed in a briefing to Parliament’s trade and industry committee on the national industrial participation programme that, apart from Italian helicopter manufacturer Agusta and ThyssenKrupp, the main arms contractors were well on target to meet their obligations.

In terms of the industrial participation programme, foreign suppliers of goods to government or to parastatals such as South African Airways, Telkom, Eskom and Denel have to commit to offsets to be awarded a supply contract. Zikode said the current obligation of suppliers was $15bn, of which $4bn was for investments.

Since its inception 10 years ago, more than 150 projects had been approved and implemented, generating investment of more than $2,2bn, and export and local sales credits of $4,5bn.

He was satisfied with the programme’s progress so far, though committee members were concerned that its benefits should be spread more evenly across SA, particularly in rural areas. Projects should also be commercially sustainable in the long term.

Zikode said of all the national industrial participation projects undertaken so far, there was a 2%-5% failure rate, and between 6% and 10% were in “intensive care”, with problems needing resolution.

“Not all projects have a happy ending. Some have encountered severe problems,” Zikode said, referring, for example, to the $30m gold jewellery beneficiation project which collapsed because of fraud perpetrated by its Peruvian and Canadian partners. The gold was sent abroad, but the proceeds never returned.

The Industrial Development Corporation and BAES was trying to revive the project, Zikode said.

Hiccups had also occurred in MAN Ferrostaal’s plans to establish a R1bn oil and gas-rig manufacturing plant at Saldhana Bay. Zikode said there had been delays in getting Transnet’s approval for a lease agreement.

There were also delays with the German manufacturer’s plan to invest in a precision strip stainless steel plant at Coega due to disagreement with the Industrial Development Corporation on the of interest rate it would charge on its loan for the project. These negotiations were hopefully nearing finality, and construction should begin in the first quarter of next year, Zikode said.

The R120m investment by BAES/SAAB in a diesel economiser project had also hit obstacles which had led to litigation.

Zikode said the department wanted to revise its national industrial participation policy guidelines to ensure offset projects led to empowerment of women, blacks and small businesses. So far, they had not benefited much.

'Former soldiers' wait for Lekota

2006-11-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

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.

Forefathers said he would not make an aircraft accident

2006-11-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

An airforce student pilot, who failed various tests since 2003 but was allowed to continue with his training, has finally been declared unfit by a Zimbabwean flying instructor.

The student, 2nd Lt Wandile Mphaka, had his flying career cut short last Wednesday after he twice failed to carry out instructions during flight.

If the instructor did not take action, they would certainly have flown into the ground.

In a second case, the flying career of another student pilot, CO Aran Gatenby, is in the balance after he 'seriously objected' to completing his flying training, due to a shortage of instructors, in Botswana.

Mphaka wrote off a training aircraft in 2004 when he extended the airbrake after he was to take-off immediately after a landing. He had already failed repeated exams, while higher authority decided that he would benefit from further training. The instructors were later accused of racism by the Minister of Defence, Mr Mosiuoa Lekota. They were asked to walk 'the extra mile' with the previously disadvantaged students.

After this, six senior Zimbabwean instructors were brought to the flying school in an exchange program.

Mphaka was managed repeatedly with his instructors because he believed that his forefathers indicated that he would not die in a plane crash and consequently he did not need to come to his instructors.

According to Lt Gen Carlo Gagiano, Chief of the Airforce, a psychological evaluation will determine if Mphaka can be accommodated in the airforce.

With reference to Gatenby, Gagiano said that four students had been selected to train in Botswana. As the group had to be representative, two black, one brown lady and Gatenby were chosen. As the Botswana Air wing did not train women, the female student was dropped.

Gatenby seriously objected to being the only white student and that he would have to be more than a year in Botswana without any foreign allowance.

Gagiano said that a recruit was subject to the rules and regulations for foreign deployment when he signed up to the Defence Force.

"It is a problem for us if anyone objects to the wishes of the airforce so early in their career."

"We must carry the consequences if anything happens to him in Botswana and we compelled him to go.

We're looking to see if we can accommodate him further."

"We don't accept people who do not want to follow rules and regulations. A female student pilot had to leave the airforce when she became pregnant, because our rules do not make allowance for that. She knew that."

Murder accused sent on peacekeeping duties

2006-11-15T01:37:00.000-08:00

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

While the military initially suggested that Lt Lawrence Tiro Toolo had been off-duty when he allegedly murdered Clement Hadebe on November 22 2001, an investigation by The Mercury 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 that they had recovered, the state claims that Toolo - armed with his state-issue R4 rifle - shot the retreating Hadebe in the back.

Defence spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi on Monday 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 back to South Africa.

"We are still investigating," 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 to lieutenant.

Meanwhile, in an unprecedented move that contradicts a previous memorandum of understanding between South Africa and the DRC, Congolese justice authorities have issued a summons on a 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 him on November 2.

The summons is understood to have stymied the SANDF's 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 unaware of the summons and refused to comment.

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".

Democratic Alliance defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn on Monday 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".

He added: "What is clear from years of poor auditor-general's reports is that our minister of Defence 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."

We are obliged to adhere to affirmative action

2006-11-14T00:29:00.000-08:00

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota is misleading whites when he asks them to join the SA National Defence Force, the Freedom Front Plus spokesperson Pieter Groenewald said on Monday.

This follow a report in the Beeld newspaper on Monday that the top students undergoing flight training at the SA Air Force who are white would not be trained as fighter pilots because they had to make way for black students.

"We have no other choice. We are obliged to adhere to government's policy of affirmative action," Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano, Chief of the Air Force, was quoted as saying to the paper.

Traditionally the top students have the choice where they want to go and the top three students chose to be fighter pilots but because they have to make way for black students they will now have to choose between helicopter and transport plane flying.

"The Air Force has now proven that the aspirations, ideals and hard work of these young people are being destroyed because as a result of their race," Groenewald said.

"The rejection of the top three trainee pilots for training on the Hawk fighter jets, just because they are white, makes a mockery of Lekota," he added.

He said Lekota's assurances that whites would not be discriminated against in the defence force had now been proved wrong.

"The continuous rejection of merit and lowering of standards will cause flying accidents which will not only cause loss of life but will also be wasting taxpayers' money," Groenewald said.

We need bean counters

2006-11-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Health staff leave military in droves

2006-11-11T13:01:00.000-08:00

The South African Military Health Service (SAMHS) is facing a national crisis as medics, doctors and nurses are leaving the defence force in droves.

And the situation, according to Democratic Alliance (DA) defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn, will only get worse.

Despite multi-million rand upgrades to military hospitals in Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein, not enough was being done to keep professional health practitioners, claimed Jankielsohn.

In the next two years, 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria is due to undergo a R120-million upgrade while R40-million will be spent on revamping 2 Military Hospital in Cape Town.

Bloemfontein's 3 Military Hospital has already undergone a R42-million upgrade and is due have a further R128-million spent on improvements within the next few years.

In the past financial year, R10,2-million was spent on military health equipment.

About R20-million is to be spent on health equipment during this financial year.

Jankielsohn said while it was good that money was being spent on upgrading medical facilities, that alone would not stop staff from leaving.

"The staff shortages are undermining the capabilities of the SAMHS and the service they are supposed to provide to the troops in South Africa and on peacekeeping missions," he said.

Jankielsohn said Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota had revealed in Parliament that of out of the 2 404 posts for doctors, nursing officers, staff nurses, assistant nurses and specialists, 617 were vacant.

Of these vacancies, 433 were at the three military hospitals.

"1 Military Hospital and 2 Military Hospital both have vacancy rates of 26 percent, while 3 Military Hospital has a massive 38 percent staff shortage.

"The remaining 184 vacancies are in various sick bays and military health centres across the country," he said.

Jankielsohn said the shortages were the result of the crisis in the national Health Department.

"Because of the crisis in the Health Department, health professionals are leaving the country by the hundreds.

"This affects the SAMHS; doctors, nurses and other health professionals are leaving the service for more lucrative positions in the private sector," Jankielsohn said.

He said SAMHS health practitioners were also leaving because of affirmative action policies, which limited many individual's opportunities for promotion in the service.

"The staff shortages show that the SAMHS is facing a major crisis .

"This will only be solved once the crisis within the Health Department is resolved," he said.

Jankielsohn said the only way the crises in the SAMHS and the Health Department could be resolved was with an aggressive national recruitment campaign.

"The defence force needs to ensure that the posts that are offered are lucrative and that there are equal career opportunities irrespective of race," he said.

Lekota acknowledges problems

2006-11-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister, has acknowledged that there was a problem of management of equipment and vehicles during peacekeeping operations in Burundi.

Earlier this month, Lekota reacted with outrage to reports that the defence force had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles in the operations.

Lekota says an inquiry was set up and the management problem was corrected. "The record was behind the actual deployment and movement of equipment. That situation has since been remedied - the first indication that there were discrepencies in the records of equipment specifically was between the rotation of South African battalion number three, which was coming back to South Africa and number four was going in. That was between August 2005. Then a board of inquiry was set up to establish accurately where the weaknesses lay."

Themba Godi, Scopa chairperson says departments have the responsibility to manage government resources properly.

"As the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, our wish and intention is that all government departments and public entities should have unqualified audit opinions, meaning that their financial management and administration of public resources is within the laws and regulations of the country. We had reached that point out of some element of frustration that these qualifications are recurring - they need to be eliminated."

Soldiers past their sell-by date

2006-11-09T02:08:00.000-08:00

The SA National Defence Force is losing skilled personnel so rapidly that military analysts are concerned the country’s airmen, sailors and soldiers will not be able to cope with future foreign policy demands.

Answers to parliamentary questions show that the SA Air Force, now just a shadow of the pride of the nation it was in 1994 when a show of air power heralded President Nelson Mandela at the Union Buildings, has seen 70 pilots resign.

While not as many are needed with the down-scaling of the SAAF from its heyday during the bush war, analysts fear the air arm of service will find itself seriously short-handed in a few years’ time.

This is when the full complement of Hawk lead-in fighter trainers will be operational – as will the first tranche of fourth-generation Gripen fighters.

All fighter aircraft will be based at AFB Makhado where flight training is under way at the relocated 85 Combat Flying School on 11 Hawks.

On the technical side the SAAF has lost 535 technicians, mostly to private aviation operators and the national carrier.

The exodus of skilled personnel has raised doubts not only about who will fly the new aircraft, but who will maintain them.

There is also concern about how the pilot shortage will affect helicopter and airlift operations, an integral part of peace-time support missions.

This shortage of skilled personnel is not limited to the air force, with SA Military Health Services now sitting with more than 600 vacant posts.

These are all military health practitioner posts covering doctors, nursing officers, staff nurses, assistant nurses and specialists.

“The battle readiness of the SANDF is compromised by this sad staffing situation in the medical arm of service,” said Democratic Alliance spokesman on Defence Roy Jankielsohn.

Analysts maintain the SANDF exit mechanisms are contributing hugely to this loss of skills.

“At the same time in the SA Army there are hundreds of soldiers who have passed their sell-by date age-wise, when it comes to being able to perform effectively on missions, be they peace support or battlefield,” said African Armed Forces Journal publisher Peter McIntosh.

Air force exodus

2006-11-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

The brand new jet-fighters, sea- and land helicopters and giant transport aircraft recently delivered to South Africa could be languishing in hangars - if the current wave of resignations of technicians and pilots continues.

Replying to written questions in Parliament, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said 535 technical officers and 71 pilots have resigned from the air force in the past two years.

DA defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said it was clear from Lekota's response that the 24 new Hawk fighter-trainers, 28 Gripen jet fighters, 30 Agusta helicopters, four maritime choppers and eight Airbus transport planes - will be at risk if the current exodus carries on.

The chief of the air force, Lieutenant General Carlo Gagiano, confirmed that Hawk jet instructors recently left for the private sector, and this could hamper training efforts.

Jankielsohn said the government should have known that it was spending billions on aircraft that could not be deployed optimally and sensibly, because the country did not have the required capacity.

The resignations meant that remaining personnel have a bigger workload and will also have to monitor newly recruited technicians and pilots, who cannot make up for lost expertise.

The air force has already begun contracting flights to commercial airlines.

Pilots are going over to commercial airlines in South Africa, which are expanding rapidly, and a flight school in Australia, which has been contracted to train pilots for China and India, is lapping up all qualified personnel.

The shortage of instructors at the Central Flight School Langebaanweg is another problem. There are currently 50 student pilots.

The ideal instructor-student ratio is roughly 1:1.8 (based on the flight-hours required to qualify).

Earlier this year the ratio was 1:3.8 - a situation that was exacerbated by individuals performing far below average still being allowed to continue flying.

"Approximately four of these students will go for fighter aircraft training, and another four for helicopter flight training. Now there is a bottleneck, because at the advanced flying schools there is also a shortage of instructors," an instructor said.

Thieves in charge at army base

2006-11-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

Bullet-proof jackets from a military supply store were sold for R500 each, apparently for use in cash-in-transit heists.

"Sports equipment " was sold to a bogus undertaking, with an address in a military block of flats, in which no deliveries were ever made.

While soldiers and even senior officers of 5 SA Infantry battalion based at Ladysmith are said to be involved in various cases of fraud and theft of military equipment, only six soldiers in the defence force have been charged with fraud in the past three years.

The names of the six who have faced charges have been disclosed by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, in response to a written question by Roy Jankielsohn, the DA's military spokesperson.

Two were found guilty, three still are being investigated and one case was thrown out of court.

A report of the inspector-general of the army summed it up in a report earlier this year:

"There have been no arrests, even although the guilty parties are known to all.

"This is making 5 SAI (Ladysmith) ungovernable."

"It is illegal to conduct outside business on military premises, or to collude with people to milk the defence force", said the report.

In one case of abuse of state property for personal gain, 260 litres of diesel was tapped from the unit's Casspirs and other vehicles, in full view of workers at 5 SAI battalion.

One soldier admitted this was a regular occurence.

In another case, hard-drives were removed from three computers. Two ended up in the offices of a political party and another in an officer's home.

The problems were uncovered by Beeld newspaper because some of the suspects were conducting a reign of terror among the rest of SAI's troops.

The troops felt powerless to do anything because the perpetrators boasted that they had "top cover" for their activities.

Members of the group were apparently approved for officer training and enjoyed preference in being deployed abroad.

Allegations at 5SAI include:

thousands of rands intended for the regimental fund were never paid in;
army funds were drawn so that soldiers could attend private funerals; and
a senior non-commissioned officer had sex with female students during training. Photos and statements about these incidents were handed in, but nothing had been done and the NCO is still involved with training;
one of the suspects, who sold bullet-proof jackets, is also allegedly involved in burglaries; and
one of the unit's officers allegedly was found guilty in 1998 of robbery and illegal possession of a weapon in the Eastern Cape and given a suspended seven-year jail sentence. The case allegedly has been reported to the defence force, but nothing has been done.

SANDF peacekeepers face litany of sex charges

2006-11-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

35 SANDF members stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi are currently being prosecuted for sexual misconduct.

And military correspondence reveals that these cases represent only a fraction of the total sexual offences committed by SANDF officers.

"Many instances of sexual misconduct go unreported," a member of the SANDF's Operational Legal Support said in response to questions about the number of sexual assault cases against South African peacekeepers.

"Some of these unreported cases are 'reported', but not through legal channels and therefore this office is unaware of those and they are not reflected," he said.

Currently, the list of outstanding sexual offence cases being processed by military prosecutors includes the following:

Four paternity claims against four different peacekeepers stationed in Burundi - one of whom is accused of fathering two children by two different women;
A rifleman accused of sexually assaulting and beating up two Kindu women. He is one of four soldiers currently facing sexual assault charges;
Five SANDF cargo handlers who were "found in a UN vehicle with two half-naked women" in Goma;
A corporal who allegedly made illegal use of a UN vehicle to drive a woman around, broke his curfew and proceeded to collide with a pole;
Two SANDF members, a staff sergeant and a lance-corporal, separately accused of failing to pay local sex workers after making use of their services;
A corporal accused of having sex with a local sex worker in a UN vehicle, a sergeant who "touched the private parts of a fellow female officer" and a corporal who allegedly sexually harassed three female contingent members;
Two SANDF officers who allegedly had sex in a men's toilet, a corporal and a staff sergeant "suspected of having sexual intercourse in a Weatherhaven (tent)" and two captains who "were together in one tent in the early morning hours";
A captain who, after allegedly making a local woman pregnant, denied that he was the father of the baby - which the woman aborted;
A captain and a cargo handler who allegedly stole the property of a local sex worker after some of the captain's property disappeared during a visit to the woman's house; and,
A flight sergeant accused of "having numerous relationships with fellow contingent men".

Four months ago, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota told Parliament that 18 South African peacekeepers stationed abroad had been reported for sexual offences. His response indicated that a lack of evidence was a common reason for why such cases were slow to be finalised.

In one case, the military appeared to believe the accused had been framed.

A 2005 UN investigation, however, found that while the sexual offences by peacekeepers were not as serious as those perpetrated by local rebel and government forces, they were still of an unacceptable nature.

The plot thickens in weapons loss saga

2006-11-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

January Masilela, the secretary for defence, says the defence department did in fact appear before Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) about its financial statements.

Themba Godi, the chairperson of Scopa, has denied the statement by Mosiuoa Lekota, the defence minister's, that they had already made submissions to Scopa, regarding the SANDF's finances.

The defence department has repeatedly received bad audit opinions on its finances. Masilela says they have plans to put their house in order.

The defence force's finances were highlighted by a newspaper report claiming the SANDF had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles in Burundi.

Lekota is lying

2006-11-04T03:55:00.000-08:00

Themba Godi, the chairperson of Parliament's standing committee on public accounts, says a statement made by Mosiuoa Lekota, the minister of defence, is actually not true. Lekota says his department has already made submissions to Scopa, regarding the auditor general's report on the defence department's finances.

Lekota reacted with outrage to The Star newspaper report that the defence force had lost millions of rands worth of equipment and vehicles during peacekeeping operations in Burundi. This has also drawn the attention of Scopa, after a report by the Auditor General found that stocktakes were not performed at all army units during the year.

"It's actually incorrect, we've not as yet interacted with any department in so far as these reports are concerned. The only entity that is going to appear before us on Wednesday is SIPRO, other than that there is no other entity to which we've communicated," Godi said.

Godi, says maybe Parliament needs to implement more stricter measures of dealing with the departments that continue to get bad financial auditor opinions year after year.

"I think its something that we still crippling with to say that maybe we need to look at much more innovative ways of dealing with this departments. One in terms of saying how do we draw the executive more into the stray and secondly how do we sharpen our interrogation methods so that people committ themselves to to the answers that they give us, people don't just come and lie to us."

Get your facts right, Mr Lekota

2006-11-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

The Department of Defence is "a serial offender" when it comes to mismanaging public money, says the government's main watchdog on public spending.

This after Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota launched a scathing attack on The Star for its expose on the army's failure to account for 66 vehicles, 119 weapons and R27-million worth of supplies intended for the SANDF's peacekeeping base in Burundi.

Flanking Lekota, SANDF chief General Godfrey Ngwenya said "every single vehicle" had been accounted for - despite Auditor-General Shauket Fakie finding this year that "stocktakes were not performed at all army units during the year" and that stocktaking certificates received from certain units were found to be of "doubtful accuracy".

Lekota claimed his department had already made submissions to parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) regarding Fakie's damning report on the defence department's finances.

Scopa chairperson Themba Godi denied Lekota's claims that the department had made submissions to Scopa regarding Fakie's findings.

"In fact, we as Scopa have decided to call the department of defence to appear before us in view of their poor, unsatisfactory and continuous failure to adhere to the Public Finance Management Act and Treasury regulations. They are what we like to call serial offenders. So far we are not convinced that the department has risen to the challenge of proper administration and financial management," Godi said.

Speaking to journalists at the SANDF headquarters in Pretoria, Lekota slammed The Star's investigation, claiming it had "acted unprofessionally in a way calculated to paint someone badly".

"The disturbing thing about this report is that it is so grossly inaccurate as to suggest bad faith," he said.

"This kind of thing... I don't know what to call this. It's not journalism... it is far below the requisite standard for journalism," he said, adding that the report was "extremely fallacious".

When Lekota was questioned about whether he knew that a military board of inquiry had investigated the loss of vehicles, weapons and supplies in Burundi over a four-year period, he did not respond.

Instead, he turned to Ngwenya and asked him: "Was there an investigation into the vehicles?"

Ngwenya then answered that an inquiry had been conducted and that it had found that "every single vehicle" had been accounted for.

The board of inquiry in fact could not account for the missing vehicles, supplies and arms, and blamed their apparent disappearance on "poor accounting practices".

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

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. Worryingly, the department's financial statements did, however, note that "unauthorised expenditure awaiting authorisation" amounted to over R495-million.

Fakie again this year hit the department with its fifth qualified audit in a row, and chastised the department for its apparent failure to follow cases of losses or damages to army property "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.

Democratic Alliance spokesperson on defence Roy Jankielsohn called for the report of the board of inquiry, which released its finding into SANDF "discrepancies" in Burundi in December, to be made public.

We can account for each and every one of them

2006-11-02T02:48:00.000-08:00

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota reacted with outrage 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 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.

Newspapers reported 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 their ethics of their profession, said he detested such reports, describing them as "extremely irresponsible".

"I can not think of anyone who has money enough even in the black market of a country like Burundi would 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 like 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 was 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 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.

Bungling in Burundi

2006-10-31T00:36:00.000-08:00

South African National Defence Force troops were sent to Burundi to keep the peace - but it seems the poor management of equipment and the theft of South African weapons that land in rebel hands is fuelling the conflict.

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

The missing vehicles are believed to include

several Casspirs;
a Mazda ambulance;
Isuzu bakkies;
one firefighting truck;
Landrover Defenders;
trucks;
a water tanker;
a Yamaha motorcycle;
forklift trucks;
Toyota Condor vans;
several cars;
a tractor;
a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

Among the weapons missing are

40 mortar bombs;
54 R-4 rifles;
four R-5 rifles;
a sniper rifle;
two 12-gauge shotguns;
eight machineguns;
eight pistols;
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 has found that on one occasion at least 50 missing SANDF mortar bombs - out of 80 bombs stolen using an army-owned Land-Rover - were found in a FNL Phalipe-Hutu 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.

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.

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.

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 R-4 rifles
Three light machine-guns, two 9mm pistols, two grenades and four R-4 magazines.

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

But, 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 "unauthorised expenditure awaiting authorisation" amounted to over R495-million.

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."

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 said 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".

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

Army men return home

2006-10-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

The large group of people who claimed they were from previous armed forces and gathered last week in the north of KwaZulu-Natal, have returned home.

Superintendent Jay Naicker said they were given the option of paying fines for trespassing on private property.

The group of about 700 people were illegally camping on a farm near Pongola. They had grievances, claiming they were not integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The men, some of them said to be too young to have been part of these forces, said they were from Apla, Umkhonto we Sizwe, the former SANDF and Inkatha SPU. They demanded to see Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota last week, but refused to go to Durban for this purpose.

Spokesman for the Minister Vuyo Zambola said the Minister was still willing to meet them. Zambola could not confirm when a meeting would take place.

“Representatives of the group have requested to see the Minister. It could be tomorrow (today) but I cannot confirm this.”

The massing on the border started the week before when two large groups made their way to the north of Zululand, ostensibly to cross the border of Swaziland and Mozambique to set up military training camps.

A large number camped on a sugar farm at the N2 highway near Pongola and refused to disperse.

The police had to use rubber bullets at one stage to keep them under control.

They were arrested and charged with trespassing.

Only one casualty

2006-10-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

With only one weapons-related casualty during three weeks of intensive military training and manoeuvres, SA Army Chief Lieutenant-General Solly Shoke has pronounced himself “satisfied” with the force’s current conventional warfare capability.

Exercise Seboka (Sotho, meaning a large gathering of people with a common interest) is winding down today, at the Army’s Combat training centre at Lohatla in the Northern Cape.

Just on 5 000 members of the Army, SA Air Force and SA Military Health Services took part in the exercise designed to test conventional warfare capacity as opposed to the previous two exercises that concentrated on peacekeeping and peacekeeping support operations.

Acting General Officer Commanding 43 SA Brigade Colonel Lawrence Smith said at the conclusion of the exercise that the goal of mastering critical aspects of combined arms doctrine, tactics, techniques and tactical level procedures had been “well and truly achieved”.

Additionally, integrated training objectives such as conducting fixed actions, deep operations, manoeuvre and destruction battles, rear area operations, integrated battlefield surveillance and integrated ground operations with air support had also all been achieved.

In terms of serviceability and availability of vehicles, materiel and other logistic aspects an overall rate of 80% was achieved.

“While the ideal of 100% is probably never achievable, even during exercises where live ammunition is used, 80% is satisfactory and we now know which areas in the logistic chain have to receive attention,” Smith said.

The casualty happened last Friday during a live firing exercise simulating a brigade attack when a rocket-propelled grenade launcher backfired, injuring its operator.

She was airlifted to Bloemfontein within 20 minutes of the incident and is said to be in a “serious, but stable condition”.

Proof positive of the landward arm of the SA National Defence force’s commitment to gender equality can be seen from the 719 female participants.

SA to get defence industrial strategy

2006-10-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

South Africa is developing a national strategy for the defence industry. “A defence industrial strategy document is in process,” reveals a senior defence industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The strategy document is being developed with inputs from all stakeholders in the industry, and the Departments of Defence, Trade and Industry, and Science and Technology, as well as other agencies and institutions.

The process is being headed, and driven, by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin.

State-owned defence industrial group Denel is one of the stakeholders involved, but it is merely one of the participants in the process - it is not driving it.

“This is being driven at a high government level,” says the source.

It has not yet been revealed what status the document will have - for example, will it be a White Paper, or something else?

Nor is it known when the document will be completed and released.

Unintegrated Forces revolt

2006-10-17T22:42:00.000-07:00

A crowd of about 1 000, intent on being integrated into the South African National Defence Force, were arrested in northern KwaZulu-Natal following a confrontation in which police, who had been stoned, responded with rubber bullets and pepper spray.

The group, part of the "South African Unintegrated Forces", had been camped illegally at Lauri Brecher's farm Leeukop at Pongola, close to the Swaziland border, for the past week.

They were intent on crossing into Swaziland, where they hoped to receive military training. However, integration of former armed units such as Umkhonto weSizwe and the Azanian People's Liberation Army ended several years ago.

Police fired rubber bullets and used pepper spray after being stoned while trying to arrest the group.

Uniformed police from several stations and specialised units were out in force when Community Safety and Liaison MEC Bheki Cele and Provincial Police Commissioner Hamilton Ngidi flew in.

Cele met a deputation from the group and assured The Mercury later that they were "not going to sleep here on Monday night".

The group had demanded to see Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Cele had made arrangements for them to do so in Durban on October 23.

"The minister (Lekota) had availed himself to meet them on Monday, but the condition is that this would be held in the proper way in Durban. The request was that they go home. They have refused, saying they do not have transport and that they did not want transport, so the deal is off.

"Indeed we negotiated, but the law must finally be upheld, and I am here for that."

Asked about the mood of the group, Cele said the delegation had initially been "quite reasonable, but as I stretched my talks the attitude was pretty arrogant".

Police Superintendent Jay Naicker said police had warned the land invaders that they were trespassing. As they moved in to arrest them in the afternoon, stones were thrown and the police retaliated with pepper spray and rubber bullets.

Six buses were then brought in to remove the group, which included women and youngsters, to Mkuze and other police stations.

The group are expected to appear in the Ubombo magistrate's court on Tuesday. Naicker said a charge of public violence would also be investigated.

They would also probe complaints that three warthogs and two impalas had been poached in Pongola Game Reserve.

Asked what the "soldiers" were doing on his land, Brecher said they had a grievance against the government.

"They told the MEC that Minister Lekota had not come back to them about integrating them into the defence force after 1994. They were protesting against this and they were on their way to Swaziland to go to the United Nations office, but they didn't get through the border."

Brecher said the group had been dropped off in buses last Sunday night and had no transport to return home "so they sat here on a loading zone on my farm".

Brecher, who attended Monday's meeting, said he was surprised that the group had rejected Cele's offer to meet Lekota.

He described the crowd as having been "very calm" during the week. "I'm not angry with them and they're not angry with me. That's why I have said from the beginning that the government must intervene because they have issues with the government, not with me.

"It just happened that they stopped here (on their way from Onverwacht border post) on an open piece of land where there was water."

Brecher, who estimated the number of men and women to be close to 1 000, said the group's leaders had told Cele they would "not be moved in police vans".

Another large group of people, apparently with similar intentions, were arrested at Manguzi, near the Mozambique border, last week. Members of that group were hoping to receive their military training in Mozambique.

Just mischief

2006-10-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

South African President Thabo Mbeki has dismissed as "mischief" suggestions that he was involved in arms-deal corruption.

In the National Assembly the president was asked by United Democratic Movement president Bantu Holomisa about "repeated insinuations" that he had been involved in meetings with arms-deal bidders "at a critical time of the tender process" involving South Africa's arms deal.

"All there is to it is mischief," the president said of the rumours.

Mbeki is repeatedly accused of having met high-ranking officials of French arms company Thomson CSF -- now Thint -- while he was still deputy president. It was part -- with African Defence Systems -- of the German Frigate Consortium that won the corvette contract for the South African Navy. The consortium is led by the Germany firm ThyssenKrupp.

While Mbeki did not deny such a meeting -- he made no reference to it -- he did say that South Africans could write to the German minister of justice: "Ask them about that story. See what they say." In June this year German investigators searched for evidence of an alleged R130-million bribe to win the contract to supply four corvettes to South Africa.

Air Force in decline

2006-10-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

In the most dire warning yet, the chief of the South African Air Force, Lt-Gen Carlo Gagiano, has said almost all the main air force systems are in decline as far as conducting and sustaining operations are concerned.

He said the force’s decline was related directly to “extraordinary levels of underfunding” and that it would not be possible to use the expensive Hawk jet trainers and Gripen jet fighters bought for billions in the strategic defence packages at their optimum level.

A massive exodus of skilled personnel from the air force was contributing to the decline of the air systems.

Gagiano took a swipe at employment equity in the defence force, saying a lack of career prospects had contributed to the high number of people leaving the air force.

Gagiano, reporting on the state of the air force in the defence department’s annual report, said there had been computer problems with the newly arrived Hawk trainers but “the overriding concern in the fighter line”, however, remained underfunding, which forced the air force to operate its fighter fleet at suboptimal levels.

Present indications were that the underfunding of the operating budget would force the combat system group to operate the aircraft of the strategic defence packages at levels “far below their optimum level of utilisation”.

He said the decline in the ability of the air force to conduct conventional operations was “exacerbated by a massive loss of specialised technical expertise during the reporting year (2005-06)”. More than 240 highly skilled aircraft technicians had resigned last year, limiting the ability of the air systems to conduct and sustain extended air operations.

Gagiano warned that the situation in the air force could affect SAs ability to provide support for the country’s peacekeeping missions on behalf of the African Union in various trouble spots on the continent.

He stressed also that operations in support of peacekeeping were “funded at the cost of other, longer-term needs, such as air base maintenance, aircraft spares purchases, vehicle renewal and infrastructure maintenance”.

More than 1 700 hours were flown in support of the deployments in the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.

“All operating risks experienced during the year are associated in one way or another with the considerable levels of underfunding of the operating budget. In some cases, such as the loss of technical expertise, underfunding was not the sole source of the problem.

“Factors such as the enormous disparities between salaries paid in the air force and those paid in the private sector, a lack of career prospects and inadequate career management contributed significantly to the high resignation rate.”

Gagiano said the solution to the deterioration of the main air systems was “almost entirely dependent on the availability of funds and, without at least minimum levels of funding, few, if any, options are available to arrest the continuing decline”.

Financial mismanagement by Defence

2006-10-02T02:35:00.000-07:00

The Democratic Alliance (DA) called for action to be taken against South African government officials responsible for mismanagement of finances.

DA defence spokesperson Roy Jankielsohn said the annual report of the Department of Defence tabled in Parliament showed that the department had received a qualified audit opinion from the auditor general (AG) for the fifth year in a row.

A qualified audit opinion indicates that there are certain aspects of the financial statements on which the AG cannot express an opinion because they are false or incorrect and do not accurately represent how the department spent its money.

"It is simply appalling that this government seems incapable of properly managing public money. To receive a single qualified audit opinion is deeply problematic, for three departments to receive five in a row demonstrates a fundamental inability to, first, properly spend and account for a budget and, second, manage a department and implement policy," Jankielsohn said.

He said that receiving five qualified audit opinions meant all three bodies that are meant to check and manage finances had failed. These are the director general, the chief financial officer and the audit committee.

"If the African National Congress government really is committed to responsible and accountable management -- as it keeps saying it is -- it now needs to act in a responsible manner and account for this failure. Steps must be taken against those responsible."

In the AG's seven-page report on mismanagement by the defence department, more than R567-million in travel and subsistence claims could not be validated against their original supporting documents.

There was a R12-million drop in departmental revenue that could not be sufficiently probed due to the lack of internal controls.

The lack of independent management reconciliation meant that the AG could not reach a conclusion on housing loan guarantees totalling R123-million, said Jankielsohn.

He added that a botched rank review had complicated the auditing process to such an extent that the irregular expenditure incurred over the last three years could not be determined.

The AG also drew attention to deficiencies in leave administration controls, the monitoring of material losses, asset management, financial accounting and the property management procedures of the department.

"The current administration in the Department of Defence has failed. It should be replaced by one that will succeed. That is what would happen in the private sector. Just because public money is involved doesn't mean standards should drop."

More guns please

2006-09-26T01:03:00.000-07:00

What does a country with millions of HIV positive and an unemployment rate of 40% need? A bigger arms industry of course! Another example of lateral thinking in South Africa. The arms industry has after all created a few jobs at a cost of R2million each. More of the same cannot be bad...

Three government departments are coming together to focus on procuring local goods and building up exporters.

SIGNALS of a new urgency to get SA's defence industry fighting fit were evident at this week's Africa Aerospace and Defence Exhibition, with the charge being led by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, who announced a review of the policies guiding the defence-industrial complex.

Lekota said that in the past 12 years, the capabilities of SA's defence industry had declined. Government had spent billions procuring foreign weapons to bolster the defence force.

Now there was a renewed impetus for joint ventures and manufacturing arrangements -- particularly linked to government-sponsored Denel.

Lekota said the departments of defence, trade and industry, and public enterprises have "embarked on the transformation of the defence and defence-related industries", starting with a review of policies.

Lekota said the alignment of defence acquisition policy was critical to support the development of the local defence-related industries.

"Acquisition policy should be linked to capital expenditure planning, and technology strategy and transfer. Perhaps the emphasis should shift to considering programmes and projects, prioritised according to our overall development agenda, rather than the old-fashioned concept of tailoring our needs to our budget".

Lekota's remarks did not go unnoticed by the large foreign contingent. Representatives from the British, German, Indian and Brazilian arms industries are positioning themselves to take advantage of any opportunities that might flow from government's new thinking on defence.

Director-general of the trade and industry department Lionel October agreed that there was an urgent shift towards supporting SA's local industry. There was also new zeal for Denel, especially after government's R2bn bailout of the company earlier this year.

October says the key is to create a platform, with the help of global players like Sweden's Saab, Britain's BAE Systems, Airbus, and the Brazilians, for Denel to become a world-class exporter, not only in aerospace, but in other areas where SA has leading-edge capabilities -- like missiles and armoured vehicles.

He says when SA emerged from the isolation of the apartheid era, its armaments industry, although well endowed, was relatively uncompetitive in world markets.

He says this shift is in line with the industrial policy of the trade and industry department, which aims to build local capability.

October says SA will see increased collaboration internationally, especially through a long-term partnership with Brazil, in the area of missile technology.

The industry will also work closely with Malaysia as a partner in the Airbus A400M military transport airlifter programme.

Denel has been awarded responsibility for the supply of ribs, spars and swords -- the "bones" of the aircraft which form the skeleton structure -- for the aircraft's vertical tailplane.

October says the R2bn bailout should be seen as a short-term expense. With SA already in the top 10 of armaments exporters of aerospace defence, Denel could become a major foreign-exchange earner with its high-tech and high-value products.

However, he says, if SA were able to build its defence industry and become a consistent supplier, the R2bn would be a cheap cost for building a defence industry.

The work of a peace keeper is never done

2006-09-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

DEFENCE Minister Mosiuoa Lekota says South African troops in Burundi may have to stay beyond their planned departure date at the end of the year should the situation in the country deteriorate.

Speaking to journalists on a flight to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo army base last week, Lekota said: "It is becoming increasingly clear that in light of events in Burundi we may have to send back some of the troops that we have already withdrawn."

The recent arrest of President Domitien Ndayizeye, the former leader of Burundi, suggested a level of instability. "If not monitored and pre-empted, (it) could reverse things," in Burundi, Lekota said.

He said he would soon send a recommendation to the cabinet on what SA's course of action should be. "We can't let the process collapse. It would be throwing away all we have done," he said.

The plot thickens

2006-09-21T07:46:00.000-07:00

THE dark arms-deal cloud continues to overshadow South Africa's political landscape and the numerous problems that cry out for government's attention.

The corruption fallout of this procurement package has ensnared, to date, the former deputy president of SA, the former chief whip of the majority party in Parliament, and the now notorious Schabir Shaik. However, the biggest potential fraud around the arms deal has attracted the least attention and remains its most egregious element: the offsets -- or industrial participation agreements -- mooted at the outset as a primary motive for the deal. Government is responsible, either through crass naivety or deceit, for gulling the public into believing this vast outlay would bring economic benefit to the country.

When the initial R30bn deal was signed with the five major European successful bidders, government claimed we would receive a staggering R104bn in complementary investment and 65000 jobs would be created. For every R1 spent on armaments, R3 to R4 would in effect be gained in offset benefits. The good news flowed. In 2000, government trumpeted that, besides jobs created, there would be a substantial positive indirect impact on the labour market.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota acclaimed the deal three years later in Parliament as "an opportunity to benefit the economy" via the "bonus" of the offsets. The same minister now admits that only a fraction of this bread-for-guns bounty had been realised. He conceded in Parliament this month that a mere 13000 jobs had in fact been created, for the R29bn already paid for the weaponry -- a shortfall of 52000 jobs.

Why was government misled so easily into accepting the offset idea? Part of the answer lies in the warm afterglow that followed our successful attainment of democracy. Our new leaders were seemingly susceptible to the blandishments of the arms industry, which was falling over itself to access a new market. Given SA's social ills, government needed a convincing pretext for spending several billions clearly required more urgently elsewhere. The arms industry, it seems, was happy to offer a pretext, with the fiction of the so-called offset benefits.

If we add up the successful bidders' noncompliance with their offset agreements, we get to a alarming figure of R5bn. This was quantified at the time of the first milestone deadlines in 2003-04, when three of the contractors had already defaulted on their offsets commitments: Ferrostaal (a R4bn shortfall), BAE/Saab (R840m) and Thales (R262m). This yawning gap between promise and fulfilment should have been a source of national outrage; instead, the compliance dates came and went with hardly a murmur from government.

The most glaring example of noncompliance involves Ferrostaal, which committed to a major investment in the Eastern Cape Coega industrial development zone. It is only a full 60 months after Ferrostaal first made the commitment to invest in Coega that there seems to be any tangible progress. Even now, the project has yet to begin construction and one can be justifiably sceptical whether this will ever become a sustainable project.

In the case of Ferrostaal, as in others, government has apparently refused to implement the breach-of-contract fines which they are entitled to impose. The estimated penalties SA may be entitled to charge Ferrostaal could be up to R850m.

The arms deal itself predates President Thabo Mbeki's tenure in the country's highest office; yet it was in his position as deputy that he chaired the cabinet subcommittee which approved of the package.

Trains needed by the army

2006-09-19T03:55:00.000-07:00

South Africa's Transport Minister Jeff Radebe called upon public and private transport companies to ensure that part of their rolling stock fleet of locomotives, wagons and road transport meet the military standards to ensure cooperation in peace missions and disaster relief operations.

Speaking at a conference in Cape Town, Radebe said that South Africa's defence establishment must submit its views to the transport department on the types of initiatives the State and private transport community could offer to cooperate in peacekeeping operations.

Radebe pointed out that the participation of private sector entities alongside State structures in military and defence operations must not be misconstrued as the transfer of responsibility from the State to private actors, nor as the extension of private interest benefiting from the private wards of individuals.

“The readiness of our armed forces to carry out missions in direct support of the mandate we have given them, must be matched with the readiness of civil transportation and other structures of society to assist, support and even participate in those operations.”

Currently, peace mission and disaster relief operations in Africa rely mainly on costly air transport and limited private-sector charter and cargo operators and how the nondefence establishment comes to the party require “urgent and sustained consideration”, he said.

Radebe used the example of how the US used trains to transport peacekeeping troops and equipment from Germany through Bulgaria and Macedonia into Kosovo in 2000. The rail-overland approached saved seven days from the normal 12-day sea-overland method previously used, he said.

“If we are able to considerably improve Africa's land, port, road and air-based transportation systems, we would not only provide a catalyst of enormous power for economic development and social improvement, but we would also provide the means for more cost-effective, efficient and time-saving methods for the development of peacekeeping forces into the areas where they are needed.”

Africa has several transportation challenges and its system had “missing links”. Although only six African countries had rail systems, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over 80% of African rail and South Africa accounted for 35% of the total African system. South Africa also accounted for about 32% of Africa's locomotives and over 90% of electric locomotives.

"Wit gevaar" does not exist

2006-09-19T01:24:00.000-07:00

Political and military analysts have rubbished claims by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota that there were still soldiers in the South African National Defence Force plotting to overthrow the government.

Lekota last week told the national assembly that investigations following an alleged right wing coup plot in 2002 had shown there were still military personnel planning an attack on the state. Two years ago he told MPs the same thing, saying his department was collecting evidence against senior "old guard" officers who were trying to sabotage the government. It was not clear, given that he first raised these concerns in 2004, whether those whom he believed were a threat to national security had been rooted out.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi has refused to answer questions sent to Lekota about his claims, saying only it was unfortunate that "issues of security will never be logical" when asked whether the claims could be substantiated.

Military and political analysts said the chances of a coup by a right wing group were practically non-existent. One postured that the real threat could be a left wing coup "one day". All agreed the theft of weapons was because of poor security at military bases.

Helmoed Heitman, a military analyst, said he was surprised to hear Lekota make the announcement in parliament, adding he really did not believe there was such a plan afoot. "There might be some wild-eyed loony tunes that dream of such things, but none of the officers I know is planning such," he said.

Wits university political science professor Phillip Frankel believe that any ideas of a coup could be fanciful mumblings over a braai and a few beers. He was skeptical about Lekota's remarks.

Residual tensions going back to 1994 still existed. Some of the integrated members were not happy, and the old members were unhappy with the way things were being managed and the SANDF's present level of professionalism.

Claims by Lekota that arms were being stolen and sold were not new. "This is not unprecedented and not totally weird. There may be something, but I remain skeptical." Frankel believed Lekota had made the utterances because he had "some agenda".

"The SANDF is not a happy place and he may be catering for certain groups in the SANDF."

Henry Boshoff, Institute for Security Studies researcher, said Lekota's claims were "ridiculous".

Show me the money

2006-09-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

The carrot that was dangled when the regime announced its intention to spend billions on new wepon systems has disappeared.

South Africa is owed billions of rands in industrial participation agreements signed with international arms suppliers, and government should explain why this investment has not happened, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Friday.

The agreements, termed "offsets", were mooted as a primary motive for the arms deal at the outset of government's plans to spend tens of billions of rands on military ships, aircraft and other hardware, he said in his weekly newsletter on his party's SA Today website.

"When the government signed the initial R30-billion deal with five major European companies, it claimed South Africa would receive a staggering R104-billion in complementary investment, and some 65 000 jobs would be created."

According to this, for every one rand spent on armaments, three to four rand would in effect be gained in offset benefits, Leon said.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota admitted that only a fraction of this bread-for-guns bounty had been realised.

A mere 13 000 jobs had in fact been created, for the R29-billion South Africa has already paid for the weaponry — a staggering shortfall of 52 000 jobs. If the non-compliance of the successful bidders in South Africa's arms deals with their offset agreements was added up, "we get to a truly alarming figure of R5-billion".

This had been quantified at the time of the first milestone deadlines in 2003/04, when three of the contractors had already defaulted on their offsets commitments: Ferrostaal, with a shortfall of R4-billion, BAE/SAAB (R840-million) and Thales (R262-million). The compliance dates came and went with hardly a murmur from government.

The terms of the offsets agreements allowed the state to charge penalties of between five and 10.0 percent of the total value of a specific contract. Government has refused to implement the breach-of-contract fines which they are entitled to impose.

More warships needed to keep the peace

2006-09-13T06:44:00.000-07:00

Another frigate, sir? Oh yes please, the South African taxpayer has almost finished paying off the ones we already have.

SA is poised to take up its option to buy a fifth patrol corvette or light frigate to join the four already delivered as part of the multibillion-rand strategic defence package and is negotiating the terms on which it will be acquired.

News that SA has expressed its desire to acquire a fifth corvette follows hard on the heels of Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota telling the National Assembly that the original price tag of the arms deal was almost paid for and the defence force could now consider further acquisitions. Jet fighters and trainers, corvettes and submarines, and helicopters were bought under the original deal in 1999 for a starting price of R30bn.

Helmoed Römer Heitman, local defence expert and correspondent for Jane’s Defence Weekly, reported in the publication late last week that SA had presented a letter of intent to the German Frigate Consortium to purchase a fifth Meko A-200 patrol corvette, now reclassified as a light frigate.

This was confirmed last night by chief of the navy Rear-Adm Johannes Mudimu. He said the original contract offer of project Citroen was for five Valour class frigates and only four were taken due to budget constraints.

Jane’s reported that the decision to acquire a fifth patrol corvette had come as a surprise to some defence analysts because the navy was focused on other projects, such as the acquisition of offshore patrol vessels.

“It is not clear how the fifth frigate will affect these projects, financially or in terms of crewing. The navy had argued that the fifth ship would be practicable only if accompanied by the funding to crew and operate it effectively,” Heitman said.

A fifth corvette was badly needed if the navy was to maintain an effective presence in east and west African waters as part of African Union security and peacekeeping initiatives.

We have spoken

2006-09-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

This is how parliament works in South Africa - no matter how controversial a law is, the regime gets what it wants.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota yesterday slammed the door on further amendments to the antimercenary bill as the African National Congress (ANC) used its 70% majority to drive the legislation through the National Assembly.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party, the African Christian Democratic Party and Freedom Front Plus (FF+) argued that South Africans serving in foreign armed forces should be required only to register their enlistment in foreign armies and security establishments rather than apply for authorisation.

Lekota's position also indicates government's rejection of the UK's approach to Parliament. British High Commissioner Paul Boateng requested that the more than 700 South Africans serving in British armed services be exempted from applying for permission.

In a last-ditch attempt to change sections of the bill, which he argued were in conflict with the constitutional right of people to earn a living and choose a profession, FF+ MP Pieter Groenewald placed amendments on the order paper.

The ANC majority rejected his proposal through a vote which approved the bill in its current form.

Lekota said government was concerned that SA citizens in foreign militaries could be involved in areas that were against its foreign policy objectives. It was also possible that SA's involvement in international peacekeeping work would put it in conflict with its own citizens serving in a foreign army.

DA MP Roy Jankielsohn said the ANC had gone through the motions of inviting input from interest groups to make the process appear democratic, but it was a sham.

"The economic impact of this legislation can not be ignored either. It is important to note that while the unhedged financing structures of the arms deal are affecting our country's balance of payments, individuals rendering security services abroad are bringing R6bn in foreign currency into our country every year," he said.

He said individuals rendering security services or working in foreign defence forces just wanted to do what they could not do in SA -- support themselves and their families. Their futures would now depend on the decisions of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee -- a body dominated by the ANC.

He said the legislation would mostly affect white South Africans who were unable to find work in SA because of policies of affirmative action and representativity in the civil service. "In this regard, the legislation is malicious and punitive in nature. White South Africans want to contribute, but the ANC is obsessed with having the power to criminalise this contribution."

Securiy guards to become mercenaries

2006-09-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

The regime now takes away the ability of South Africans denied jobs in their own to earn a living overseas. Young South Africans - denied entry to their own armed forces by the colour of their skin - who join the armies of foreign governments are also labelled as mercenaries.

National Assembly defence committee chairperson Thandi Tobias orchestrated the passage of the Prohibition of Mercenary Activities and Prohibition and Regulation of Certain Activities in Areas of Armed Conflict Bill through her committee.

While nobody wants mercenary activity to be tolerated, this legislation is so obviously flawed that it even drew criticism from Minister of Defence Mosiuoa Lekota himself when tabled last year.

The committee chair Thandi Tobias allowed members to make extensive inputs on the Bill, including DA MP Roy Jankielsohn, who suggested a series of important amendments that would have tightened a number of vague definitions and made the legislation comply with the Constitution and accepted international law.

At every turn Tobias gave the impression that a number of these amendments were agreed to and that they would be reflected in the revised version of the Bill.

However, after a week of discussion and input, many of the proposed amendments and suggestions, including those from Jankielsohn and outside experts, were simply ignored -- bar some selective tinkering with the Bill.

When tabling the Bill, Lekota admitted it was motivated by the government's desire to stop South Africans working in places such as Iraq. However, in his desire to achieve this outcome, it appears Lekota and his ANC colleagues have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

The Bill would essentially criminalise South Africans' ability to earn a living, negatively affect peacekeeping efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, and ultimately undermine President Thabo Mbeki's Africa policy.

Furthermore, by in effect making criminals of law-abiding citizens, the government would force the return of thousands of highly trained military personnel -- people who would have every reason to feel disenchanted with the treatment afforded them by their government.

The Bill places too much authority and discretionary power in the hands of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) and its chairperson, Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi. It requires individuals wanting to serve in foreign armed forces or private security companies to seek authorisation from the NCACC.

Crucially, the NCACC could bar a citizen from joining an armed force, if such a force was currently involved in a theatre of conflict, which, according to the Bill, "would contribute to regional instability or negatively influence the balance of power in such a region or territory". Such phrasing leaves the Bill wide open to political interpretation and could be applied to virtually any conflict in the world,

Keeping the peace in Africa

2006-09-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

South African troops are not exactly covering themselves in glory in darkest Africa. Although they are supposed to be peace keepers, it seems that they have become a valuable source of arms and ammunition for the combatants.

South African peacekeeping troops in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Sudan are losing enough arms, ammunition and military ordinance to sustain a small war.

They are serving in the three troubled regions as part of African Union and United Nations peacekeeping operations.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota on Friday said about 50000 rounds of ammunition, 97 mortar bombs, 46 R-4 assault rifles, three light machine guns, two pistols and two grenades had been lost or stolen in the course of peace-support missions.

Lekota said, “The losses have occurred either as a result of equipment being lost while on patrol, equipment being stolen while stored in both secure and insecure facilities, and during ambushes on members.”

In Burundi, Lekota said, 22000 rounds of 5,56mm calibre ammunition for R-4s had been stolen from stores in Bujumbura. The investigation into the incident was not yet complete.

Two years ago 80 mortar bombs were stolen while they were unguarded.

Two soldiers had their firearms, one a pistol and the other an assault rifle, stolen from locked cabinets in their tents where they had left them.

Lekota also reported that in an incident in Sudan as part of Operation Cordite, 32 South African soldiers were ambushed and disarmed by about 200 armed men. Four vehicles, 34 R-4 5,56mm rifles, three 7,62mm light machine guns, 37 battle jackets, several radios and several thousand rounds of ammunition were stolen in the attack.

The soldiers were told to cram into a vehicle and leave. They reached Abdul Shakor checkpoint where they reported the incident and contacted their base.

Also in the Sudan, five men entered a camp at Kassab by crawling underneath the fence. The suspects held the section commander and a guard at gunpoint and forced them into a tent where other members were sleeping. A light machine gun and eight R-4 rifles were stolen.

$4billion spent to create 13 000 jobs

2006-09-09T01:25:00.000-07:00

Those jobs came at a cost of slightly more than R2 million apiece. They could have set up thiteen thousand entrepeneurs in business instead. The results would have been a lot more tangible.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota’s announcement that the industrial participation agreements accompanying the arms deal had only created 13 000 of the expected 65 000 jobs since 1999 raises the question of whether the R29bn could not have been better spent building infrastructure.

Minister Lekota told Parliament yesterday that, so far, R29bn has been spent purchasing jet fighters, corvettes, helicopters and submarines for the country’s strategic defence package. It is not clear what the total costs of these procurements will be, with some experts estimating that R45bn could be the final bill. The Minister also hinted that more arms would be purchased in future.

But the revelation that only 13 000 jobs have been created – 52 000 less than was expected – raises the important question that should worry all South Africans: If some or most of the R29bn had rather been spent improving South Africa’s infrastructure, would this not have created more jobs and better results for the economy?

As it is, South Africa faces no threat to its security grave enough to justify such a large purchase of arms. They are in danger of rotting away in storage and wasting even more of the taxpayers’ money, which could have been spent uplifting the poor.

Here comes the "wit gevaar"

2006-09-08T05:41:00.000-07:00

The boogir man of apartheid was the "swart gevaar" (black danger) - the fear of the government falling to black insurgents. Here is the white counterpart.

There are still soldiers in the South African National Defence Force plotting to overthrow the government, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota has told the National Assembly.

Two years ago he told MPs the same thing, saying his department was collecting evidence against senior "old guard" officers who were trying to sabotage the government.

On Wednesday, he told the house that ongoing investigations following an alleged 2002 right-wing plot to overthrow the government had shown there were still military personnel who remained within the defence force planning an attack on the state.

It was not clear, given that he first raised these concerns two years ago, whether those whom he believed were a threat to national security had not been rooted out and remained in the armed forces.

Destitute ex-soliers's quest for his pension

2006-09-07T03:25:00.000-07:00

A former soldier hitchhiked for 12 days to Pretoria to find out why the South African National Defence Force had not yet paid out his pension after three years.

Once in Pretoria, Marthinus Conradie from Kuils River in Cape Town found a missing injury report the force had been unable to find in their own archives for the past three years.

"I was a staff-sergeant in the army's intervention unit for 22 years. I was shot in the arm and suffered shrapnel wounds during a bomb attack on our camp in Ombaluntu in the then South West (Namibia). The army discharged me in 2003 after a medical report had been issued. I kept calling the army for three years to find out when I would receive my money."

They kept telling me that the injury report was missing. "Three weeks ago a certain Mrs Adriaanse said she couldn't find my report in the army's archives or on its computer system." He looked through the archives and found the report within three minutes. "I printed it out and handed it to them. All I heard were a few lame excuses."

On his way to Pretoria he was robbed of his clothes and bedding in Worcester. "I had my last meal two days ago and had my first cup of tea at Beeld's offices in Pretoria." He arrived in Pretoria on Tuesday and found his report on the same day. He slept on Pretoria Station on Tuesday night, and probably slept there again on Wednesday night.

Conradie asked the army to help him get back home, but got no response. "It's their fault that I don't have a penny to my name. After many years of loyal service, they didn't even offer me a cup of tea or offer to take me home."

Major Vivian Petrus from the army's communications department, asked Beeld to send him a written inquiry about the case, upon which he would comment. When Beeld called later, he was not in and somebody said he might have an answer in a day or two.

Antics of the SANDF

2006-09-05T13:36:00.000-07:00

A few happenings from the recent past.

18 members of the SANDF serving as part of UN peacekeeping missions in Africa have been reported for sexual offences

In a table of offences provided by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, a lack of evidence was a common reason for a lack of progress in the cases. In one case, the military appeared to believe the charges had been framed. Peacekeepers claim they are often lured into compromising situations for their accusers to use in blackmail attempts. But a UN investigation last year found that while the sexual offences by peacekeepers were not as serious as those perpetrated by local rebel and government forces, they were still of an unacceptable nature among peacekeepers from all nations.

16 July 2002

Most of South Africa's army is either too unfit or too old to be operationally deployed, according to a parliamentary report.

Only 3,000 out of 76,000 soldiers could be deployed and only four tanks could be used in action, according to a briefing by the defence department.

16 July, 2002

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota dismissed with contempt suggestions that South Africa's forces are not up to the task before them. Newspaper reports citing a briefing given to MPs by senior soldiers have reported that more than half of South African soldiers are unfit and that morale is at rock bottom. Minister Lekota said the South African armed forces are perfectly placed to fulfil their obligations. He denied reports that up to 60% of South Africa's soldiers may be HIV positive.