South African Navy chief Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu yesterday called on the private sector and parastatals to fund the defence force military skills development programme saying the system was helping the youth to get scarce technical skills that business was also desperately searching for.

He was addressing the graduation parade at the SAS Saldanha navay base of seamen and women who completed their basic military training course under the military skills development programme of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

The programme was introduced into the military to hone the skills of youth while physically training and preparing them for the various units of the defence force such as the navy.

Mudimu said the navy’s programme was in part supporting the government’s skills development intervention programmes such as the accelerated and shared growth initiative (Asgisa). The navy is in partnership with the department of public works and various private sector companies especially in the maritime industry that provide facilities to equip the youth with various skills that are essential for the navy.

He said the navy urgently required young men and women to serve at sea in ships and submarines. It had a shortage of scarce skills including combat officers, operators, engineers, technical personnel, divers and submariners *2.

He told Business Day after the parade that it was unfortunate that most of these skills were equally a challenge for the private sector which then recruited from the SANDF, particularly the navy’s training programme by promising better salaries. “We cannot compete with Eskom which requires a lot of this young talent for its development programme and can afford to pay huge salaries.”

He said he believed the skills challenge could be addressed if the private sector and parastatals participated in the defence’s military skills development system. This will ensure that the navy was not crippled by the poaching of the young people it trained without some remedy.

“The seas surrounding our coast are also the life line for our economy and the SA Navy is responsible for ensuring maritime security that allows our sea lines of communication safe and secure for the passage of trade,” he added.

External Corporate Communications officer Lieutenant Commander Prince Tshabalala said that the levels of resignations by those with technical skills has stabilise. He said he suspected that the negative effects of the global financial crisis to most companies in SA has helped reduce the number of companies poaching their young recruits and experienced staff.

He explained that during the training programme, the youth has the opportunity to identify the skills they would like to specialise in and are often leave the force already qualified as technicians, artisans, fitters, caterers, among others duties.

Tshabalala said the programme takes two years after which the navy selects and employs the excelling group and gives others the option of joining the navy reserve or study further. Others get the assistance to find employment by the navy’s redeployment agency from various private sector companies that are in partnership with the navy in the maritime industry.

The 500 graduates of the first basic course are part of the SANDF recruitment drive to rejuvenate the SANDF, provide it with scarce skills as well as serve as a feeder system for the defence reserves to eleven thousand by 2010/11.

Mudimu also urged the recruits to be role models for many young people trapped in societies that subjected them to an environment plagued by substance abuse, crime and violence against women and children. “You are no longer ordinary citizens, you are members of a disciplined force ... bound by the prescripts of the military disciplinary code and the code of conduct that you all signed,” he said.

With acknowledgements to Hopewell Radebe and Business Day.