CSANDF Visit to Western Cape

On 28 September 2005 the Chief of the SANDF again invited people on a visit to military installations, but this time it was different, the visit was to Cape Town and the guests were businessmen from all over our beautiful country.

The day the guests arrived they had their welcoming function at Stimanzi in Thaba Thswane, where they were given an address by Maj Gen Mohato Mofokeng, the Chief Defence Foreign Relations. Brig Gen Kwena Mangope, Director Corporate Communication, accompanied the businessmen on behalf of the Chief of the SANDF, Gen Godfrey Ngwenya.

Since these men are used to the civilian way of doing business they were exposed to the military way of doing things and they started off by flying to their destination in a C130 Hercules flown by the crew of 28 Squadron.

On arrival at Ysterplaat Air Force Base they were welcomed by a small air show. Thereafter Col Daan Boshoff, SSO OPS Comm Joint Operation Division, gave them a presentation regarding SANDF Force Employment Process The presentation that seemed to interests our guests the most was delivered by Mr Kopano Lebelo, the Deputy Chief Acquisition and Procurement, because it deals more with the business side of things and that is what these guests excel in. Mr Lebelo explained to the guests all the steps involved in acquiring tenders, all the way from applying for different tenders in the DOD. The guests had many questions, but owing to time they were told to reserve their questions for dinner and Mr Lebelo would answer all their questions.

After all the presentations at Ysterplaat we were on our way to Simon’s Town where we had the pleasure of enjoying the beautiful scenery that Cape Town has to offer. On arrival at Simon’s Town the guests were served lunch before their briefing on the SA Navy delivered by R Adm Sutherland, Acting Director Fleet Special Task The guests and I were surprised to know that South Africa has more sea than land. The different ships and corvettes of our SA Navy were also shown to them.

When all was done at the SA Navy, they were taken to the Cape Town Highlanders, which is a Reserve Force regiment. Here they received a brief history of the regiment.

On the last day of the visit the guests went to Langebaanweg Air Force Base’s Central Flying School where Lt Col King, the Chief Flying Instructor, gave them a briefing on the school. They were also shown some of the aircraft, which are used to teach the students.

The guests were all enjoying the visit, but were tired of presentations and they wanted to see some action, which was exactly what was waiting for them at SAS SALDANHA. There they found the students of the Military Skills Development (MSD) Programme ready to give them a parade they will forever remember. The unit had prepared displays for the guests; we had the SAS SALDANHA Marching Band, a precision drill display, which was entirely conducted by two drums. The retreat ceremony was also on display and the choir gave us some sweet sounds. The display that impressed the guests the most was the gun run display, even though the 12 pounder’s sound goes straight through to one’s heart, it was a bliss seeing the young ones actually do these displays with such discipline.

Then when it was all done we got a presentation on the MSD Programme by the MSD students themselves, which was a breath of fresh air, actually getting a presentation from them as the saying goes: “It’s best when it comes from the horses’ mouth”.

The last unit that we visited was the Military Academy where the Acting Commandant, Lt Col Nick Slabber, welcomed everyone and introduced his staff to us. Then we had a presentation on the academic programmes by the Faculty Dean
of Military Science, Prof Johan Malan, a presentation by the programme coordinator of MASIZA, a community service that the Military Academy does with the schools around the area.

After all this at the Military Academy and a mouthwatering lunch, it was time to leave and come back to our world. The guests really enjoyed doing things the military way for a change, and said we should invite them again. Hopefully the men were encouraged to join the Reserve Force to offer their services.