South Africa's military top brass have warned that the rate at which soldiers, sailors, pilots and technical personnel are being poached from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) poses a serious threat to the country.

The loss of pilots to the Australian Air Force alone recently prompted the chief of the South African Air Force Lt-Gen Carlo Gagiano to appeal to his Australian counterpart for an end to the poaching.

"I said to him: this is not on, you can't keep poaching from me. He promised me it was not him or his force, that it was other organisations, but I think I need to follow up on that conversation," he told MPs last week.

"I said to him: this is not on, you can't keep poaching from me"

The military officers were presenting the SANDF's strategic plan for the next three years to the national council of provinces' select committee on defence and constitutional affairs.

Even musicians are in demand as a military violinist was recently recruited by a foreign fighting force. But the exodus of technicians and other specialists is far more serious.

The air force lost 218 technical specialists last year and 253 the year before. Fifty more packed their bags in the first three months of this year and April alone saw 23 technicians leave for greener pastures. Pilots are also leaving in droves.

"I have lost my Cheetah Squadron Commander to the Australian Air Force, my Hawk Squadron Commander, my senior instructor on the Hawks and just yesterday I heard that my most knowledgeable person on the Oryx helicopter is now leaving for the Australian Air Force," complained Gagiano.

He warned that the loss of air crews, particularly to the Middle and Far East, "is going to have a huge impact on the economy of the country".

'Every week the navy loses people, even Africans'

All in all, the SANDF lost 910 technicians in 2007 - more than 11 percent of its entire technical staff. One official explained that this would seem like an acceptable loss of skills to some, but that the amount of money and time that went into training these members would make it impossible for the SANDF to get a return on their investment.

It has also caused a juniorisation of technical staff, leaving only a handful of experienced personnel to guide and mentor the rest who average two or three years of experience.

Chief of policy and planning in the defence secretariat Tsepe Motumi said the problem was "across the board" in the SANDF and that the organisations was suffering from "poaching on a month-to-month basis".

Chief of the SA Navy V-Adm Johannes Mudimu sketched a dismal picture of sailors, divers, submariners and navy engineers leaving for higher wages elsewhere.

"Many divers are going to Nigeria to work on the oil rigs. Others are going to the Central African Republic to work in their oil industry. We have members who have left for Australia, New Zealand and the British Royal Navy," he said.

But the haemorrhaging of skills is not only attributed to foreign recruiters.

Local aviation companies, engineering firms, transport companies and the merchant navy are also stripping the military of much needed skills.

According to Mudimu, the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa) has recruited many navy drivers and fire-fighters as the company gears up for the anticipated influx soccer enthusiasts in 2010.

Merchant mariners apparently lure young navy cadets literally under the noses of military brass. "We train them for three or four years at universities and technical colleges. They are sought-after individuals.

"You know, when I attend a parade to graduate these members, there are people in the audience with fat cheques. By the time I give him a trophy this youngster has already entered into an agreement (with another employer)," said Mudimu.

In other cases, companies or foreign governments simply buy South Africans out of their study contracts.

The navy chief conceded that losing trained personnel to the South African economy was "not so bad", but complained that many companies in the field no longer spent money on their own human resource development, they simply wait for the military to train staff.

He also emphasised that the problem was not limited to white military officers.

"Every week the navy loses people, even Africans. When we were building these new frigates in Germany, we sent a lot of blacks to Germany to train. When they came back they served the navy for one or two years and then they all left," he complained.

He said the navy lost 75 Africans last year.

The SANDF has set aside R408-million to provide incentives to those with scarce skills, but officials pointed out that, in the long run, the demand for skills was a global phenomenon and that it is hard for South Africa to compete.

Source: The Daily News

The mandate of about 1 000 South African soldiers deployed in Burundi under an African Union (AU) mandate is to be extended as efforts to get the last remaining rebel group to re-join the peace process gain momentum, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday.

He said Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula -- the facilitator of the Burundi peace process -- was to meet regional leaders on the fringes of the AU summit taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to discuss his progress.

Read more at: Mail & Guardian Online

Investigations into the incident at the South African Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatla in which nine soldiers were killed have revealed that the tragedy was caused by a mechanical failure, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said on Friday.

The nine soldiers died when a 35mm Oerlikon GDF MK-5 gun malfunctioned at the training centre in the Northern Cape on October 12 last year.

Fifteen other soldiers were injured in the incident.

Speaking to reporters in Pretoria, Lekota said a board of inquiry, which was established two days later and headed by retired Major General Johan Jooste, found that a mechanical failure occurred on gun 124 when the interface between the hand-motor actuator selector level and the traverse gearbox broke.

Read more at: Mail & Guardian Online

Police say their preliminary investigations into an accident in which nine soldiers were killed at Lohatla in the Northern Cape do not indicate any negligence, the SABC reported on Monday.

Members of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) were busy with military exercises on October 12 when a computerised gun malfunctioned, killing nine soldiers and injuring 14.

Police spokesperson Cherelle Ehlers said the investigations were at an advanced stage.

Two investigations - one by the police and another by the SANDF - started shortly after the accident. Sources within the SANDF said the military investigation had been concluded.

However they said the outcome would only be made public once the families of the deceased soldiers had been informed.

Source: The Times

Like children who cannot wait to open presents on Christmas Day, South African soldiers cheered loudly when a large cargo plane carrying goodwill parcels from home arrived in Burundi on Tuesday.

When the cargo plane flew over the Modderfontein base in Africa's Great Lakes region, the troops spontaneously started singing.

"I don't think the sponsors always know how much these gifts mean to our troops," said Colonel Hein Visser, South African task force commander in Burundi.

He was referring to goodwill parcels brought from South Africa as part of a morale-boosting festive season tour by South African National Defence Force officers.

In addition to the parcels, which consisted of a picnic backpack stocked with glasses and plates, companies also donated sports gear including soccer kit.

"You can see, it's like a holiday here today," Visser said.

Read more at: Mail & Guardian Online

The South African Navy has embarked on a project to create a partial equivalent of the Royal Marines' Special Boat Service with which to patrol Africa's rivers and coastlines in support of peace-keepers and in pursuit of rebels, terrorists and pirates. The project, code-named Xena, is expected to field an Operational Boat Squadron (OBS) consisting of 16 lightly armed patrol boats, according to Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg, the Navy's chief director of maritime strategy.

A report on Xena by defence analyst Leon Engelbrecht said each unit of about five (more likely four) OBS boats would be supported by 'a mobile shore facility, including accommodation and a containerised headquarters fitted with advanced command-and-control equipment'. Each boat is expected to be just over 10m long, skippered by a naval petty officer, plus a coxswain and two gunners, one operating a fore-mounted .50 calibre machine-gun and one a 7.62mm calibre light machine-gun at the stern. Teuteberg said the new OBS would form part of the Navy's Maritime Reaction Squadron, formed two years ago. The squadron consists of two other parts: an Operational Diving Team; and a Reaction Force of naval women and men, partly equivalent to the Royal Marines, who will be transported six to a boat.

Teuteberg said the difference between the new South African system and the British was that the Royal Marines were 'proper marines who go ashore and secure beach-heads', whereas in South Africa, that function will be performed by conventional Navy-transported infantry: Cape Town's 9 SA Infantry Battalion in either its new 'sea-landing' or rapid-response roles, backed up by the reserve Cape Town Highlanders. And whereas the Royal Marines' autonomous Special Boat Service is in fact a covert, special forces outfit, designed to secure harbours and so forth, that role in South Africa is performed by 4 Reconnaissance Regiment at Langebaan which reports directly to the Chief of Joint Operations.

The accident at the SA National Defence Force's Lohatlha training grounds last week happened immediately after technicians had finished repairing the weapon, a Mark V twin-barrelled 35mm gun, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said in the National Assembly.

A one-eighth of a second burst of explosive shells from the barrel of the anti-aircraft gun killed nine soldiers and injured 15 others, MPs heard on Tuesday.

Explaining the circumstances of the incident, which happened on Friday, Lekota said the training exercise had involved eight guns positioned 20 metres apart in a line facing north.

The day was the first on which the soldiers involved had used "live" ammunition in a training exercise. The ground targets being fired at were located between 1 500m and 2 000m away.

Each gun had a crew of four. The gun in question was the one on the far right, at the east end of the line.

"As all guns commenced firing, the gun on the far right had a stoppage. This is something that happens from time to time.

"Technicians repaired this gun, while all the other guns continued firing. This is a very normal drill.

"As they continued firing, after the gun was fixed, it swung completely to the left, and one barrel fired off a burst of 15 to 20 shots in one-eighth of a second. The gun immediately to the left was hit.

"This fatal burst then killed or injured members of all the guns to the left. The effect was therefore that all of those killed or injured were hit from the right and lost right hands, or right legs, or lost their lives."

He confirmed the total number killed was nine, and 15 injured.

Lekota said the eight guns had been used the day before, "and each one had successfully fired between 500 and 800 rounds".

He further explained the guns could be set on either "manual or electric firing mode".

On Friday, they had all been set on manual. This meant they were sighted on the target, and the barrel then clamped into position "so that the barrel should not move from side to side".

"When firing in electric mode, safety boundaries are computerised and the barrels are not clamped, but move within the boundaries set in advance."

Lekota said care was always taken within the SANDF to avoid accidents, and he offered his condolences to the families of those killed and injured.

He said the soldiers killed would each receive full military funerals.

Read more at: Independent Online

Five soldiers injured when an anti-aircraft gun went "haywire" during a training exercise were in a "satisfactory" condition at the Pelonomi Hospital in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

SA National Defence Force (SANDF) headquarters said another two soldiers seriously hurt in the incident were also in a satisfactory condition at 3 Military Hospital, in Bloemfontein.

Seven troops, who were slightly injured, had been treated at the sickbay at the SA Army Combat Training Centre in Lohatla, said SANDF spokesperson Brigadier-General Kwena Mangope.

Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and Chief of the SANDF General Godfrey Ngwenya have wished the injured soldiers a speedy recovery.

They have also extended their "sincerest sympathies and condolences" to the families of the nine soldiers who died in the incident involving a 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft gun during the Exercise Seboka.

All of the soldiers were members of 10 Air Defence Artillery Regiment, in Kimberly.

The dead were named by the SANDF on Sunday as:

• Staff Sergeant John Bezuidenhoudt, 30, survived by his mother, Mrs W Bezuidenhoudt, of Upington;

• Bombardier Khangeziwe Lephunah Malaza, 24, survived by her mother Mrs A N Malaza, of Tembisa;

• Gunner Emmah Thembekile Mthimunye, 20, survived by her mother Mrs N L Mthimunye, of Siyabuswa, in Mpumalanga;

• Gunner Rhulani Mihloti Mtileni, 23, survived by Samuel Mtileni, of Limpopo;

• Gunner Sebenzile Veronica Nhlabathi, 20, survived by her sister T T Nhlabathi, of Ladysmith;

• Gunner Thapelo James Nkwana, 21, survived by his mother Anna Nkwana, of Atteridgeville;

• Gunner Sammuel Sphiwe Nyembe, 22, survived by his sister Thabisile Nyembe, of Mabopane;

• Gunner Botse Seipato, 21, survived by his mother, from Mabopane; and

• Gunner Rudzani Christopher Siphuma, 21, survived by his father Simon Siphuma, of Chiawelo.

"The Department of Defence is to begin with the process of liaising with the families of the deceased to discuss funeral arrangments," said Mangope.

Funeral arrangements would be announced once they had been confirmed by the families.

He said the Department had appointed a high-level board of inquiry to investigate the incident.

Source: Independent Online

Nine South African soldiers were killed on Friday in a shooting accident involving an anti-aircraft gun during a training exercise at a base in the central Bloemfontein region, the army said.

"I can confirm that nine of our people have died and another 15 were injured and taken to various hospitals around Bloemfontein," South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) spokesperson Brigadier General Kwena Mangope told AFP.

"We are still waiting for details but we do know it was an exercise, a yearly exercise that 27 soldiers participated in.

"We use a variety of weapons (in the training exercise). This particular one is a 35mm MK5 anti-aircraft gun," he added.

An investigation has already been launched into the incident which, happened at around 09:00.

The area where the accident took place has been sealed off and officers from the military police and civilian police service are at the scene.

Read more at: News24.com

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