PORT HACOURTH NIGERIA

AKWAIBOM

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/williamsaundersonmeyer/2014/03/29/time-for-the-sandf-to-slim-down-and-shape-up/

It’s not a national secret that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is in serious trouble. Its barracks are unfit for human habitation, it has been haemorrhaging expertise and its soldiers teetered on the brink of mutiny in a protest march on the Union Buildings

So when the government’s leaked long-term military strategy review reports a “critical state of decline”, it’s merely stating what has been obvious for at least a decade. According to a study by Gerhard Louw of Stellenbosch University, drawing on the 2012 Defence Review, says the SANDF is“critically deficient in the skill, motivation, and ethos that is required to operate a ‘modern system’,” given that it has to “retain human resources that are no longer employable in an operational capacity, which exacerbates the DOD’s relentless exodus of technically skilled and professionally qualified personnel … average standards of military proficiency are therefore continuously decreasing”.

The defence review, which Reuters news agency this week quotes extensively from, has been accepted by the cabinet but not yet released. It states that even if urgent action were taken immediately, it would take at least a decade to remedy the neglect. What is needed is “massive investment”, with the defence budget potentially doubling from R14-billion last year to R40bn by 2014.

This, it says soothingly, is a mere 1% of gross domestic product (GDP), a ratio “well below” equivalent nations. In fact, should South Africa want to be truly safe, it should spend R116-billion a year, or 3.3% of GDP, on the military.

What a load of bollocks. What the SANDF needs is not simply more money, more matériel, and more men, but to start using existing resources better. The SANDF needs to slim down and shape up.

First, there’s the ballooning 97 000-strong muster. A modern military is not a retirement home at which to park one’s aged liberation war cadres who are no longer fit for purpose. South Africa has the oldest infantry troops in the world but the SANDF says it can conceive of no “humane exit mechanism” to thin its ranks.

Then there’s weaponry. Not surprisingly, the top brass and the defence contractors are at one that SA needs more “heavy-combat ability”, presumably tanks and attack helicopters. Unfortunately, the SANDF is already sitting with an array of expensive hardware that it cannot deploy, either because it lacks the skilled crews – hence 12 mothballed Gripen aircraft – or because it can’t afford the running costs.

That raises the use that these men and matériel are put to. The air force, for example, has been reduced to being a flying limousine service for African National Congress politicians. The government refuses to reveal the cost of flights by the president and the deputy-president on “security grounds”. However, it’s a fact that while the SAAF’s helicopter squadrons receive a generous allocation for VIP flights – last year the Durban-based 15 Squadron got 300 hours flying time to ferry the Zuma entourage to and from Nkandla – they get very little for training and nothing at all for sea and mountain rescue.

Finally, there is the extent of the SANDF’s mandate. The military’s first duty is to protect our borders. Anything else is not only a costly addition, but detracts from it being able to execute its primary function.

The government, however, is increasingly using the SANDF as an extension of diplomacy, to project power elsewhere in Africa. That’s a dangerous vortex. That’s a thankless task. Most critically, that’s futile – there are always more places to intervene and interests to protect than there is taxpayer money. Ask the citizens of the United States. So while the occasional humanitarian intervention might be a necessary and worthy undertaking, South African troops are being deployed far too readily and for far too long.

The review argues that the shift from securing territorial integrity to achieving diplomatic goals as a compelling reason for bigger budgets. At present levels of expenditure, “the military cannot underpin Pretoria’s diplomatic and commercial expansion in Africa … There must either be a greater budget allocation or a significantly scaled-down level of ambition and commitment”.

In case we don’t grasp the urgency, it warns: “Old colonial powers such as France, and new economic ones such as China, are flexing their muscles.” Americans, again, will recognise the threatening bogeyman tactic, the justification of every act of US military adventurism, stretching back at least a century.

The generals are naturally keen on the iron-hand-in-velvet-glove philosophy. It gives the troops battle experience and a chance to play – costs covered by the African Union or, more accurately, the United Nations – with expensive toys that otherwise would otherwise never be taken out of storage. They might even get to go with Big Daddy to buy more lekker goodies.

That’s all far more exciting than the simple but boring stuff that the SANDF command should actually do: improve morale, training and discipline. That would mean investing less in cutting-edge military technology and more in old-fashioned Sergeant-Majors.




I know sey some people go dey vex sey I don show

JOHANNESBURG

Johannesburg Main Station

johannesburg

DURBAN

CAPE TOWN

East London in The Eastern Cape

IT WILL TAKE NIGERIA 200 YEARS TO REACH THE SOUTH AFRICAN STANDARD

Nice, new blood to the party!!!! Not the same old fart Agaubububu and KIE. Likes their different oppinion/ vision!!!!! You rock boys make it more tens. I like I like.

Thiza you ROCK!!!

Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape

Thiza: IT WILL TAKE NIGERIA 200 YEARS TO REACH THE SOUTH AFRICAN STANDARD

South Africa is Africa's R.ape and M.urder paradise, sorry Nigeria does NOT want to reach your horrible standard. Thank you

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Atleast South Africa is not a semi failed state with an overrated security machine that runs away at a slightest provocation.....Legendary in abandoning civillians

Real world look like this..Bloemfontein in the Province of the Free State

Pretoria the Capital and Photo 4 Union Building the State house

City of Kysna in the Western Cape

City of George in the Western Cape

City of Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu Natal

One of the Best hotels in South Africa situated in the North West Province of South Africa

Port City of Richards Bay in the Province of Natal

Hatfield in Pretoria

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[size=14pt]NIGERIA ![/size]

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more Naija !

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agaugust: .

dude there are better pictures on skyscrapercity

Thiza: @AUGUSTUS ALL WORLD CUP STADIUMS WERE DESIGNED BY SOUTH AFRICANS, BUILT BY SOUTH AFRICANS, FINANCED BY SOUTH AFRICANS AND THE LABOUR PROVIDED BY SOUTH AFRICANS.....CAN U SAY THE SAME WITH NIGERIA

It doesn't take much effort to disprove your lies! Google this search string: "design consultants for South Africa 2010 World Cup Sadiums".
I have no time for your Hollywood performances.

iterator25: dude there are better pictures on skyscrapercity

thanks, will check them out.

@AUGUSTUS NAME THE CITIES NOT ONLY ABUJA AND LAGOS.....I WILL B PUTTING TENS AND TENS OF SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES THAT ARE MORE THAN A SECTION YOU SELECT.......

Hundreds of civilians are fleeing Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri as fears grow that Boko Haram Islamic terrorists will try to assault the Borno state capital after seizing towns and territory around it, residents said yesterday.

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Heavily armed Boko Haram fighters using captured military vehicles and weapons have taken towns and villages to the north, east and south of Maiduguri in the past few weeks and days.

Apprehension among Maiduguri residents grew after fierce fighting since Monday between Nigeria's military and the militants over the town of Bama, 70km southeast of Maiduguri. Thousands have fled Bama amid conflicting reports of who has control.

The militants took the smaller town of Bara on Tuesday, to the southwest of Maiduguri.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau last month declared a "Muslim territory" in the northeast after capturing the town of Gwoza on the Cameroon border.

He is believed to be trying to mimic the example of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, which announced the creation of a trans-national "caliphate".

Travellers packed bus stations in Maiduguri waiting for transport west to Damaturu in neighbouring Yobe state, the only safe exit route. Vehicles laden with passengers and possessions were also seen on the Maiduguri-Damaturu road.

Civil servants, traders and the families of soldiers were among those moving out, residents said.

The town of Kempton Park

The Town of Germinston.....photo 1 the stainless steel factory which is the biggest in Africa

@AUGUSTUS NOW YOU UNDERSTAND WHY THE WORLD COMES TO SOUTH AFRICA

According to the figures, South Africa outstripped the average global growth rate of about 4% as estimated by the UN World Tourism Organisation with strong year-on-year growth (33.7%) coming from Asia. Excluding Africa, which produced a 7.5% growth in tourists to South Africa last year, overseas tourist numbers rose by 15.1%, which was one of the highest growth rates in the world.

Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told journalists that the infrastructure put in place for the 2010 World Cup had stood South Africa in good stead and it now had good facilities. South Africa’s participation in the grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China (Brics) also had the huge potential to boost tourism. They accounted for 330,834 of the international tourist numbers last year.

The growing importance of tourism to the economy was highlighted by Statistics South Africa data which showed that in 2011 the direct contribution of tourism to GDP rose by 5% to R84.3bn — well above the 3.1% growth in the economy in 2011-12. Domestic tourism expenditure expanded to R101bn in 2011 from R69bn in 2010.