Department of Defence Annual Report 2008-2009

| Department of Defence |
Committee Date Venue
ISDSC Military Health Conference 16 – 29 November 2008 Namibia
Standing Aviation Committee 29 – 31 March 2009 Botswana
• A Defence Co-operation Agreement was signed
with the DRC on 15 April 2008, and Benin on
24 June 2008. Other bilateral actions within
the African context include the annual Defence
Committee/Bi-National Commission/Joint
Permanent Commission meetings held with
Zambia, Lesotho, Nigeria, DRC, Tunisia,
Namibia, Botswana and Mozambique.
• On a broader international level, Defence
Committee meetings were held with Jordan, Italy,
Germany and France. A number of planned
meetings were postponed due to the change in
Minister of Defence, and the pending national
elections. Other noteworthy bilateral actions
which took place on an intergovernmental level
and included the Department of Defence, were
the Joint-Intergovernmental Commission with
the Ukraine, India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA)
meeting in India and the Intergovernmental Bi-
National Commission meeting with Argentina.
On Service level, the SA Navy had staff talks
with the Navies of India, Brazil, Pakistan,
the United States of America (USA) and the
United Kingdom (UK), which will lead to the
continuation of bilateral activities between the
SA Navy and said Navies.
Foreign Visits
• Visits to and from African countries. DOD
members visited African countries 62 times for
purposes varying from goodwill visits by the
Chiefs of Service, training teams assisting African
countries in specic training requirements,
seminars within the African context with
working visits on ofcial levels emanating from
bilateral agreements. One of the highlights was
the symbolic handing over of the rst Rapid
Reaction Battalion in the DRC, trained by the
SANDF. Both the SA Air Force and the SA Navy
visited African countries including Lesotho,
Namibia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique
to determine the exact requirements for training
assistance to these countries in specic elds.
In return, the 25 visits by African ofcers varied
from reciprocal goodwill visits by Chiefs of
Service to discussions in areas of co-operation,
benchmarking in specic areas such as training
or Reserves management, to discussions
on bilateral agreements. This included the
attendance of the third Sea Power for Africa
symposium hosted by the SA Navy.
• Visits to and from the Rest of the World.
Visits to other countries by SANDF ofcers in
general, served either the purpose of executing
co-operation actions agreed to during bilateral
meetings, or enhancing the professional
qualication of an ofcer in his/her specic
eld of expertise. Symposiums, conferences or
seminars attended focused on themes specic
to Armed Forces such as maritime security,
airlift operations and sea power. In the medical
eld, military doctors remained abreast of
developments in their elds of expertise. To
improve the use of military equipment and
the sharing of experience in the use thereof,
international user-group meetings such as the
Gripen, Lynx and MEKO user-group meetings
were attended. A total of 125 visits took place
during FY 2008/09.
• Foreign Military Training. Nineteen foreign
ofcers attended the agship courses of the
SANDF: the Executive National Security
Programme and the Joint Senior Command
and Staff Programme. There were foreign
representation on a further 95 SANDF
functional courses. Ofcers from the SANDF
were represented at 18 foreign development
courses in eight countries. With regard to
functional development, 59 foreign training
opportunities were made use of throughout
the reporting period. For nine foreign staff
colleges, South Africa was the destination of
choice for their module on geopolitical country
studies, which forms part of the curriculum of
most defence staff colleges.
Ships Visits.
• Foreign ships berthed in South
African ports 15 times for maintenance, rest
and recuperation during long voyages, or for
diplomatic purposes. The SA Navy, with SAS
SPIOENKOP, hoisted the ag in various ports
in the Far East as part of their training voyage
which served a diplomatic purpose by reenforcing
the bilateral ties between the countries
visited and the South African Government.
| Appendix A |
181 Annual Report FY 2008 - 2009