T - Department of Defence

eventsS A S O L D I E Rwell maintained infrastructure were animportant element of preparing,employing and deploying forces.Brig Gen David Masters, GeneralOfficer Commanding Defence WorksFormation, in clarifying the achievementsmentioned that a research into acase study was undertaken and an ideawas planted in the SANDF that anopportunity needed to be granted toour own members to help solve thismassive problem of the 12 billion randsmaintenance backlog which had beenconfirmed by the entity responsible forthe facility management of the DODinfrastructure, but there was no solutionin sight.He said that in order to achieve thisobjective it was necessary to recruitSANDF members guided by our "OneForce Concept" from all our Services(the SA Army, the SA Air Force, the SANavy and the SA Military HealthService) to be trained in differentlabour-based construction and maintenancetrades, site supervising, engineers,technologies and technicians inthe workforce from different rankgroupings, including both men andwomen.Brig Gen Masters said: "Most importantly,in terms of driving this projectwe aligned ourselves with differentindustries in mainstream construction,such as Murray and Roberts, Multi VoltLaden, GDD Irons, Afrit and PelmaTrucks, WBHO and Group 5. It was avitally important and potentiallyrewarding area in detailing a successfulinitiative."He added that the Defence WorksFormation had been mandated to providethe following functions for theDOD: Operational Level FacilityManagement Facility Maintenance and Repair Facility Construction Facility Skills Development Military Integrated EnvironmentalManagement General Support Services, andMaj Abe du Preez, the Training Officer (left) and WO2 LekwanaNyokong, the Training Warrant Officer, provide support and assistancein piloting the training programme for artisans at Murray andRoberts. Research and Development.Brig Gen Michael Mdletye, DirectorOperations (previously Director FacilitySupport Management), pointed out thatperhaps more important was the shift infocus beyond simply addressing thefacility management problem, but infine-tuning our approaches in providinginspiration for greater DOD innovationand creating a sense of collective responsibilityfor some pressing challenges thatface us to achieve concrete outcomes.He added that this kind of a project hadthe added dimension of being able toperform the increasing amount oflabour-intensive work and provide highqualitysolutions to infrastructure developmentand in so doing creating skilledmembers who could compete in theopen market once they left the military,thus strengthening the general communityskills base.Brig Gen Getrude Mngadi, DirectorFacilities (Level 2), said that through thepower of the collective everything waspossible and demonstrated how commitmentand tenacity worked hand in handto realise a vision. She pointed out thekey to the realisation of the Minister'sstated vision in the area of infrastructure,planning, design and constructionmanagement.Brig Gen Kefilwe Mathibe, DirectorSkills Development (former GeneralOfficer Commanding Service Corps),said that as we moved into the 21st century,skills development continued togather pace. She said that another aimwas to impart knowledge and skillstransfer and provide inspiration forthose who wanted to expand theirskills, e.g. Military Skills DevelopmentSystem (MSDS) members and Reservesacquiring skills in labour-intensive construction,artisan training in areas suchas electrical maintenance, air-conditioning,painting and carpentry.She concluded that the intensive programmewould boost the organisationalcapacity to keep up with the operationand maintenance requirements of DODassets. This would also assist in continuouslymonitoring the well-being ofour assets so that they did not fall into astate of disrepair.J U N E 2 0 1 1 • s 19