Publication: Mail and Guardian Issued: Date: 2007-12-21 Reporter: Mosiuoa Lekota

2007 Report Card Part Two - Mosiuoa Lekota : Minister of Defence

 

Publication 

Mail and Guardian
Date

2007-12-21

Reporter

Mosiuoa Lekota

Web Link

www.mg.co.za


Mosiuoa Lekota
Minister of Defence
Grade: F (2006: D)

If Zuma takes over as president in 2009 "Terror" Lekota will be first in line for the bullet -- and not a moment too soon.

Lekota has long been regarded as an absentee minister. This year his deep involvement in the succession battle as Mbeki's political battering ram has sent him even further AWOL.

As a consequence, the SANDF is showing desperate signs of neglect. In his complacent foreword to the latest defence department annual report, Lekota boasted about the arrival of hi-tech ships and planes as part of the arms deal.

"The delivery of this equipment and its capabilities have demonstrated the wisdom and the tenacity of the decision to equip our national defence," he proclaimed. But the rest of the document bears out the skewed spending patterns introduced by the over-priced and inappropriate acquisition of major combat systems.

In almost every service arm, it mentions a loss of skills and the desperate measures to retain critical personnel by diverting operational budgets to bolster salaries. It points to a growing backlog in maintenance, which has already made some units effectively unavailable. There are reports of a lack of basic supplies. The Regular Tank Regiment, for example, achieved only 50% of its performance requirements because a lack of funding and ammunition meant no continuation training took place.

Soft-skin military vehicle availability stood at 40% as a result of an ageing vehicle fleet, while the acquisition of a new generation of military trucks was delayed by irregularities in the initial tender process.

The defence force is doing an heroic job of staying intact and operational, but the dire situation has prompted an unusual level of frankness from the military professionals.

"The personnel budget of the SA Army continued to absorb the budget so that only approximately 11% of the budget was available for Chief of the Army to utilise at his discretion as operating funds," says the annual report. "As a consequence, the SA Army had to adopt a survival strategy.

"The above practice has resulted in standards of proficiency being decreased. The over-utilisation of certain scarce skills in external and internal deployments has led to a decline in job satisfaction and morale.

"The SA Army has developed an incentive scheme to retain some of these scarce skills. However, the scheme could not be implemented owing to lack of financial resources."

The delivery of the Agusta A109 light utility helicopter is almost four years late and the late release of the Hawk jet trainer has disrupted planned training and conversion schedules.

Denel's much-vaunted Rooivalk fleet suffered a five-month grounding caused by technical problems and yet another scandalous scheme to prop up Denel, the Ground-based Air Defence System, has suffered a three-year delay due to "non-performance by the main contractor *1".

Judged by his own annual report, the minister has failed.

With acknowledgements to Mosiuoa Lekota and Mail and Guardian.


*1       The main contractor is a consortium of Denel *2, Thales/ADS *3, and BAE Systems *4.

This consortium was forced by Armscor on one and all. I have the documents to prove it.


*2      System Integrator and big time, all time loser as everything it touches turns from gold to shit.


*3      Thales/ADS

Thales is the non-competitive supplier (that's just how they like it) of the Thales Air Defence (ex Shorts Brothers) of Northern Ireland, VSHORAD (Very Short Range Air Defence) missile.

Thomson-CSF is the second most corrupt major defence equipment supplier in the world.


*4      BAE Systems

BAE Systems is the non-competitive supplier (that's just how they like it) of the Matra BAE Dynamics, SHORAD (Short Range Air Defence) missile.

British Aerospace is the most corrupt major defence equipment supplier in the world.


The biggest defence equipment suppliers in the world are something like :
Lockeed Martin
Raytheon
Boeing
BAE Systems
Thales
Northrop-Grumman
General Dynamics
BAE Systems and Thales are the biggest in Europe. They haven't got there by accident.