₦airaland Forum

Henry120:
South Africa’s Military Arms Troubles
October 16, 2014 - Uncategorized - African Military, South Africa

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is drowning in a sea of mismanagement, corruption, political manipulation and strategic myopia.

While this state of affairs will probably not result in an imminent ‘attack’ on the Union Buildings, as was the case in 2009 when justifiably angry rank-and-file soldiers protested over conditions of service, the ongoing fallout is much worse.

It’s hard to know where to begin but let’s start with the basics. Section 200(1) of the Constitution states that, “the defence force must be structured and managed as a disciplined military force”. If we take the standard dictionary definition of discipline to mean “the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience”, then it is clear that those who are in charge of structuring and managing the SANDF are in serious breach of its core constitutional imperative.

There is a litany of such ‘indiscipline’. Despite a mountain of evidence stemming from the 1990’s arms deal detailing gross mismanagement and corruption involving SANDF and Department of Defence (DOD) officials as well as senior politicians, hardly any of those responsible have been held to even the most minimal of disciplinary standards.

The ongoing official investigation into the arms deal – the Seriti Commission – is turning out to be more of a whitewash than a clean-up. As has become the standard practice of SANDF and DOD officials as well as associated politicians, the main agenda of the Seriti Commission appears to be to ensure that the myriad ‘indisciplines’ are shielded from any meaningful democratic scrutiny and action.

When the SANDF deployed over 1000 soldiers to the DRC in June 2013 the generals and politicians spoke glowingly about the professionalism of South Africa’s defence forces and their contribution to ‘peace-keeping’ in Africa[b] but did not tell us that the soldiers lacked some of the most basic equipment. It was only through an associated court case later that the Minister of Defence was forced to admit that “our soldiers do not have tents … ”.[/b]

While the rank-and-file soldiers in conflict zones were being treated like 2nd class citizens, SANDF head honcho, Lt. General Solly Shoke spent over R100 000 of taxpayers money flying 1st class to a conference in Malaysia earlier this year.

The DOD has brazenly cast a veil of secrecy over its recent attempts to buy a new luxury VIP jet (no prize for guessing who the beneficiaries are) worth almost R2 billion. When parliamentary questions were asked, Defence Secretary Dr Sam Gulube noted that the matter was a “sensitive project” (read: classified) because it had been conveniently shifted to a ‘Strategic Capital Acquisition Master Plan’ project list, no doubt a secret itself. Public knowledge about a SANDF deal for purchasing over 200 armoured infantry vehicles worth close to R15 billion was zilch until the actions of some brave whistleblowers.


When opposition parliamentarians recently asked Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula for further details of the SANDF acquisition projects she refused, stating that the information does not belong in the public domain. Not to be outdone in the secrecy stakes, Defence Secretary Gulube told parliament’s defence committee that any attempts to enforce greater scrutiny of the government’s arms procurement programmes would be a threat to national security.

All of this has to be set against the backdrop of the 2014 Defence Force Review which has been approved by the Cabinet and is now making its way through parliament’s labyrinthine corridors.

Despite receiving R42 billion in the 2014/15 budget and untold billions more continuing to be spent on the 1990s arms deal and on other acquisition projects that we know little to nothing about, the Review unequivocally acknowledges that the SANDF is in a “critical state of decline”. It lists a host of serious problems and crises:

The escalating costs associated with the purchase, use and maintenance of the 1990s arms deal programme has resulted in a majority of the fighter planes, helicopters, training jets and naval vessels purchased being mothballed. Those that are in use suffer from chronic under-use and a lack of technical/ maintenance personnel and trained pilots.

Spares, general equipment, ammunition stocks and fuel reserves are “generally depleted”. One instructive example of the resultant impact is that South Africa now has “little airspace or maritime domain awareness” (read: the SANDF can hardly track who and what is in South African airspace and waters).

Nearly 55% of the overall budget is spent on personnel costs, even though SANDF rank-and-file earn relatively little. Despite increased personnel spending, there is a massive shortage of competent personnel at all levels and those with scarce and professional skills are leaving at “concerning rates”.

Practical training and exercises have been cut to the bone such that the SANDF is unable to “execute [its] widening spectrum of tasks” while medical care to SANDF personnel is in a generalised state of crisis .

The SANDF suffers from “fragmented management and information systems [that] inhibit integrated and systemic decision making”.

Predictably though, the Review’s solution to these systemic crises of decision-making, strategic planning and human and financial management is to throw more money into the SANDF pit in order for it to carry out its “constitutional requirements”.

Those “requirements” are interpreted as revolving largely around a military “strategic posture” defined by the “the role that it wishes to play both regionally and continentally”. In other words not, as the actual Constitution states, “to defend and protect the Republic its territorial integrity and its people… ” but to satisfy a politically constructed and elite centred ‘need’ to play big brother in Africa.


We should all take the words of Andrew Feinstein, that fearless exposer and critic of the South African and global arms trade, to heart. He warns us that this ‘shadow world’ “often makes us poorer, not richer, less not more safe and governed not in our own interests but for the benefit of a small, self-serving elite, seemingly above the law, protected by the secrecy of national security and accountable to no one.”

Before it is too late, South Africans need to not only actively demand accountability for past ‘indisciplines’ and abuse of public funds and trust but ensure that our military forces and projects focus on what they are supposed to do – to serve and answer to, the people.

this is the best post in this forum. so detailed , so factual. Si insightful 1000000 zillon likes. I want to read it again....abd again.

MikeZA:
I doubt Nigeria even has tents.

And winter clothing such jackets for its soldiers,seeing that they're still struggling to get standard uniforms.

there isn't winter here, fool.

vdGeist:
Mr lezz, everything you've posted has been posted before. Don't be excited. We've seen it all.

Go through this thread and other one I linked to . We can do this all day.... You won't shock anyone.

from this thread, this was posted.

over 70% of Nigerians live in slums

[img]http://grida.no/graphicslib/thumbs/1805c933-493c-4b85-be16-ad06eb342332/medium/slum-population-in-urban-africa_d7d6.jpg[/img]

http://blueprintng.com/new/2013/07/09/69-70-of-nigerians-still-live-in-slum-conditions-un/&sa=U&ei=rgdfUoO1C47b4AOroYH4BQ&ved=0CCcQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNHpbHmMZMZPdPa7MmsNAQPTI0ljZQ


SA housing stats
www.nairaland.com/attachments/1477419_housing_gifef3e99ee8a39365a0fcfe5bd7251d820

lol, my country, Nigeria isn't on the world's top 10 biggest slums
southafrica is 7th on the list. Say what you want, the world has its facts.

ThaVluit:
Weekend begins. I'm out! Have fun, y'all.

this is the second largest slum in the whole of Africa , 2nd only to Kabira of Kenya. It is also the 7th biggest slum in the whole world. I present to you, my brothers the 2nd biggest slum in Africa , Khayelitsh of southafrica with almost 400 thousand people.This slum, located south of iKhusi Primary School on the Cape Flats of South Africa, was founded in 1985 and its population is the result of the historical apartheid and its end during the Second World War. A location of extreme poverty and disease, the biggest risk factors for this informal settlement are crime, AIDS and a huge 80% unemployment rate. Conditions here are so dismal that infestation has become a major and often over-looked problem. According to a gruesome article published by UK-based tabloid publication The Daily Mail in 2011, a baby was attacked here by one of the townships’ giant rats that can grow to as large as 3-feet long.

;

vdGeist:
Lmaoo, where do you people get these from. average black earning $800, you're insane..

the statistics and figures are all from your country. This isn't even international, it's pure local southafrican press

Patchesagain:
I fail to see how this makes Nigeria in any way better than South Africa

look again, look hard and you will see.

lezz:
this should keep you busy for the weekend:

Safety and security

The most basic function of the state is to provide for its citizens physical safety, protecting them from both aggressive citizens of other countries and from one another. On the national security front, so far, none of South Africa’s neighbours have attempted to invade, so it’s hard to tell how we’re doing, although there is reason to doubt our proficiency. As Du Plessis points out, the army has a very high rate of HIV infection – as this article by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service notes – which makes it a questionable fighting force. In addition, as the arms deal debacle has shown, procurement practices in the SADF aren’t all that gr

where are all the Zulu mugus talking about SA military.

ThaVluit:
Weekend begins. I'm out! Have fun, y'all.

this should keep you busy for the weekend:

Safety and security

The most basic function of the state is to provide for its citizens physical safety, protecting them from both aggressive citizens of other countries and from one another. On the national security front, so far, none of South Africa’s neighbours have attempted to invade, so it’s hard to tell how we’re doing, although there is reason to doubt our proficiency. As Du Plessis points out, the army has a very high rate of HIV infection – as this article by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service notes – which makes it a questionable fighting force. In addition, as the arms deal debacle has shown, procurement practices in the SADF aren’t all that gr

ThaVluit:
Weekend begins. I'm out! Have fun, y'all.

let me give you a parting weekend gift:


The South African government must set aside a pool of contracts for participants in the program to compete for. There can be some subcontracting also but prime contracting is the key to business growth. Develop large Black owned businesses and demand that they subcontract to other Black owned firms.

Black should be Black. They must not aggregate all ethnic groups under the label of Black. They should separate and monitor each group. You can’t tell me that the colored, Indians and Chinese endured Apartheid in an equal manner to Blacks. The typical executive in South Africa makes $80,000 per year. A typical Black makes $800 per year. This disparity is intolerable and must be dealt with immediately. Entrepreneurship and business development are the direct ways to correcting the situation.

Patchesagain:
No, that is an opinion

this is an opinion as well:
The South African government must set aside a pool of contracts for participants in the program to compete for. There can be some subcontracting also but prime contracting is the key to business growth. Develop large Black owned businesses and demand that they subcontract to other Black owned firms.

Black should be Black. They must not aggregate all ethnic groups under the label of Black. They should separate and monitor each group. You can’t tell me that the colored, Indians and Chinese endured Apartheid in an equal manner to Blacks. The typical executive in South Africa makes $80,000 per year. A typical Black makes $800 per year. This disparity is intolerable and must be dealt with immediately. Entrepreneurship and business development are the direct ways to correcting the situation.

Patchesagain:
Not able to achieve independence?

Let me explain something to you.

2 things brought the NP Government down:

1. Massive international sanctions
2. The multitudes on the streets making the country ungovernable

Some countries acted as hosts to our fighters but that is all they did.

Nigeria did the least - you issued some passports and that is all.

Lesotho did more for the struggle

After the end of Apartheid in 1994 and with the advent of majority rule, control of big business in both the public and private sectors still rested in the hands of white individuals. According to Statistics South Africa, whites comprise just under 10% of the population, meaning that most of the country’s economy was controlled by a very small minority. BEE is intended to transform the economy to be representative of the demographic make-up of the country.”

It sounds like a noble cause but there is just one thing. It is not working. It is poorly implemented and is wrought with corruption, fraud and misrepresentation. A few colored and Asians are getting the lion’s share of the business while the Black population continues to be left out of the economic infrastructure. Among the 295 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Blacks account for just 4% of chief executive officers, 2% of chief financial officers and 15% of other senior posts (The Economist). Entrepreneurship is basically void and a start in this area is desperately needed. Even President Jacob Zuma seems to agree. “Instead of redistributing wealth and positions to the Black majority, they have resulted mainly in a few individuals benefiting a lot,” he says, “while leaving the leadership of most big companies in white hands. The Black masses, the intended beneficiaries, have hardly gained.” Well, Mr. President, what are you going to do about it?

ThaVluit:
Picture 1 - Johannesburg

Picture 2 - Lagos

If we do not arrest the path we are on, where citizens are passive and we are just recipients of what the governing party does and how it says it is changing things but failing to implement, what do we risk by continuing on this trajectory?

We risk being a failed state. We already have signs of that. Show me a democracy where you can have a government that admits 80% of schools are not working. The training system is not working because we have 800,000 vacancies in the services industry and 900,000 graduates who can’t get jobs. We have a system that has failed in the health domain — people are dying needlessly, woman are dying in childbirth in the 21st century.

We have infrastructure that is a shock — as a resident of Limpopo and the Eastern Cape, it’s just shocking. Every year money is allocated to roads but it ends up in someone’s pocket and there is no accountability. How can we succeed as a country in the 21st century? We have an economy that works fabulously for a tiny minority of people. For the majority, can you imagine a country succeeding where 71% of its most energetic, creative segment of the population is not participating in the economy? That’s us. Fifteen- to 34-year-olds are hanging around the car parks or in shebeens and other places where they shouldn’t be because we have failed.
This is fact son. Eat that.

Msauza:
The city in Africa which is big in terms of infrastructure and skyscrapers is Johannesburg. The New York of Africa.

Johannesburg signifies the state of your slavery. Do not talk about it for there is nothing to brag about there. I need to infuse a needle into your head and drain the fluid of stupidity out of you, that way you can see yourself in the light of reality. Slave boy.

Msauza:
Lezz your brain is just as small as that of an ant. I don't see any competition in you at all, because if you call other peoples opinion facts, then there is something wrong with Nigeria's system of education. If you want to write academically you can't just bring such mediocrity and present as if are facts. However, let me leave you with something to ponder on.

Africa's most competitive cities. SA takes all top 3 spots.


http://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/ranked-africas-most-competitive-cities/15703/

lol, define facts however you want, my son, what the world know for a FACT is that you(blacksouthafricans) own no bragging rights in your land. Nothing. The land is still majority owned by anglo-dutch, the gold mines are still own by anglo-dutch, comapnies are still own by anglo-dutch, economy run by anglo-dutch, defence system, anglo-dutch. The FACT says you are nothing but a nairaland e-squater with no place to look back to. You are welcome to enjoy our e-space. Kleinfontein.

Msauza:
Your brain is still half in terms of information. Go and read the history of SA to see how the ZULUS, SOTHOs and others resisted the invation of the colonists. Surely, you don't know Shaka Zulu and Dingaan who killed many whites. Surely we didn't sell our brothers, we never agreed to it.

i heard about Shaka the Zulu. History says he was more foolhardy than brave.

ActivateKruger:
You're an azz... expensive cities have poor price regulation therefore people are changing as they please.

Sandton is Africa's wealth Square Mile.

Deal with it.

please, southafricans are sore losers. You guys accept nothing. Who gives a flying fvck about a bleeding quare mile? We are talking about cities and you are talking quare miles. Some other nutcase was still saying j'bourge was the biggest as per land mass.

You guys need T.B joshua i tell you for the devil's got your minds and brains.

Msauza:
The only best thing Nigerians are good at, is to plagiarise by stealing someone's work and present it as if is theirs by copying and pasting. We want your creative work other than something which was written by one white man some 20 years ago.

what do southafricans want. I bring facts yet they complain it is fiction, i bring up quotes, thay say it is written by british or americans, i travelled history lanes and bring up political facts, they say they want the source. I went on to bring my sources and now i am being accused of the crime of plagiarism. What do southies want.


You just won't admit that I, Lezz, the SA-slayer is the biggest d.i.c.k you ever had to contend with. You cant get enough of me neither are you willing to get down from off my d.i.c.k

i fvck you like none other can.

ActivateKruger:
Feel free to Streetview Soweto.... goodluck

oh Lagos, when i checked the stats it is africa's largest and most expensive city. Occupying the second position is Cairo. That's what the headlines are saying. Sing me another song.

ThaVluit:
But Nigeria leads Africa on slums.

Short. L.E.T.H.A.L.

soweto remains the largest single ghetto in the land of aliens, humans and spirits.

ActivateKruger:
Wasn't it Nelson Mandela and other blacks who were at University of Fort Hare in 1939, UNISA at 1942...etc, Soweto STUDENT uprising in 1976... my mother graduating at a College in the 80s..


Buhahhahahahah

the time when we were at school, you were busy sucking Abacha's black cock.

that is kliptown southafrica, a few miles from j'bourg where people live in shanties and relieve their bowels on the streets and a few toilets are locked away for fear of disease.

ActivateKruger:
Wasn't it Nelson Mandela and other blacks who were at University of Fort Hare in 1939, UNISA at 1942...etc, Soweto STUDENT uprising in 1976... my mother graduating at a College in the 80s..


Buhahhahahahah

the time when we were at school, you were busy sucking Abacha's black cock.

and why you are seeing to your kids, read this........oh by the way, your mandela and other apartheid heroes managed education by scholarships granted by various african governments . Oya take am, olodo:





South Africa Over the rainbow It has made progress since becoming a full
democracy in 1994. But a failure of leadership
means that in many ways, South Africa is now
going backwards Oct 20th 2012 | KLIPTOWN ON JUNE 26th 1955, 3,000 South Africans
gathered in a dusty square in Kliptown, a district
of Soweto, a sprawling black township on the
outskirts of Johannesburg. Members of the African
National Congress (ANC) congregated alongside
their anti-apartheid confederates to proclaim a new vision of the future. The next day police
broke up the meeting (Nelson Mandela disguised
himself as a milkman to escape). But the dream
had already been declared. “The people shall
govern,” announced the Freedom Charter. South
Africa would belong to all of its people, no matter what their colour. There would be work,
education and security for all. Everyone would be
equal before the law. It was an extraordinary
affirmation, full of hope and the promise of a
better future. Today the square is named after Walter Sisulu, an
ANC hero and mentor to Mr Mandela. It boasts
shops, offices, a conference hall and a pricey
hotel. As the birthplace of the new, inclusive
South Africa, it has become a stop on the tourist
trail. But just across the railway track, rickety shacks huddle together. The roads are rutted and
muddy. Communal latrines stand useless, their
doors open and rubbish piled inside. Next to
them on the uneven ground wobbles a portable
toilet, its door padlocked against vandals. A
sludgy stream trickles past, fouled by children unable to find the key in time. Walter Sisulu
Square is close by, but the aspirations of the
Freedom Charter are nowhere to be seen.

ThaVluit:
You've been trying to murder South Africans for a whole week. You aren't the first to try. You won't be the last to die trying either.

All your stories that Nigerians share when they sit around the fire enjoying yam have come to a screeching frustrating end against South Africans.

Nigerian school below.

take this son:





South Africa Over the rainbow It has made progress since becoming a full
democracy in 1994. But a failure of leadership
means that in many ways, South Africa is now
going backwards Oct 20th 2012 | KLIPTOWN ON JUNE 26th 1955, 3,000 South Africans
gathered in a dusty square in Kliptown, a district
of Soweto, a sprawling black township on the
outskirts of Johannesburg. Members of the African
National Congress (ANC) congregated alongside
their anti-apartheid confederates to proclaim a new vision of the future. The next day police
broke up the meeting (Nelson Mandela disguised
himself as a milkman to escape). But the dream
had already been declared. “The people shall
govern,” announced the Freedom Charter. South
Africa would belong to all of its people, no matter what their colour. There would be work,
education and security for all. Everyone would be
equal before the law. It was an extraordinary
affirmation, full of hope and the promise of a
better future. Today the square is named after Walter Sisulu, an
ANC hero and mentor to Mr Mandela. It boasts
shops, offices, a conference hall and a pricey
hotel. As the birthplace of the new, inclusive
South Africa, it has become a stop on the tourist
trail. But just across the railway track, rickety shacks huddle together. The roads are rutted and
muddy. Communal latrines stand useless, their
doors open and rubbish piled inside. Next to
them on the uneven ground wobbles a portable
toilet, its door padlocked against vandals. A
sludgy stream trickles past, fouled by children unable to find the key in time. Walter Sisulu
Square is close by, but the aspirations of the
Freedom Charter are nowhere to be seen.

ActivateKruger:
First "zulu" is spelled with capital "Z" like this "Zulu"... its called a proper noun. This further demonstrates the low level of Nigerian education.

But don't panic, we will school you.

and it never crossed you drug invested mind and pap-invaded brain that he might have chosen the little "z" to indicate his lack of respect for a zulu rat like you.

My boy, your education is incomplete because it started in 1994 and the majority of you enrolled too late, too old. Now go make sure your kids get lucky.

iconize:
There are 913 schools with no sanitation facilities.

11,450 schools with use pit latrine toilets in zulu
Africa.

i shall be bringing more fact soon to murder these southies with no heritage or identity. Zulu boys of a slave lineage with no sense of shame.