letters to the editor - Department of Defence

S A S O L D I E Rmain featureProgress forthe Department of DefenceComments on thesuccesses andchallenges faced by theDepartment.By Manelisi Ndaba, Specialist Writerin the Department of DefencePhoto: Sgt Elias MahumaAs the DOD celebrates ten yearsof its official monthly publication,SA Soldier, it becomesimperative to acknowledgeand appreciate the hard workdone by DOD members intelling military stories of thepast decade in their own words.This anniversary takes place against thebackdrop of the third Budget VoteDebate that was delivered by theMinister of Defence and MilitaryVeterans, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu, to theNational Assembly on 13 April 2011.During her address the Minister sharedthe successes and challenges faced bythe Department and how these werebeing dealt with. The budget vote alsogave the Minister an opportunity toarticulate the way forward and describethe kind of a national defence force weare creating. In this regard a well managedand disciplined national defenceforce is what we are constructing.When she took over the defence portfolio,there were enormous long-standingchallenges that seemed impossible toovercome, but in the three years of herleadership hope has been restored inthe hearts of many in the NationalDefence Force.The first challenge that confronted theMinister was a declining budget inMs Lindiwe Sisulu, Minister of Defence andMilitary Veterans.which the Department's domestic obligationswere defined in theConstitution, against the backdrop ofthe DOD's growing internationalresponsibilities, a deteriorating infrastructureand, very importantly, thepressing reality that conditions of servicefor the National Defence Forceneeded immediate attention.In her first budget vote speech 2009,Minister Sisulu boldly stated the needfor a separate dispensation for theDOD that would allow it to deal creativelywith its own needs and thespecificities of its own unique securityrequirements. This was reiterated byPresident Jacob Zuma in September2009 when he said: "The SANDF mayserve the public, but its members arenot public servants. They may receivea salary at the end of every month, butthey are not ordinary workers. Thehigh standard ofbehaviour weexpect from themnecessitates thatspecial attentionbe paid to theirworking conditions,their remuneration,theirpensions and,generally, theirplace in society".The startingpoint was theestablishment ofthe InterimNational DefenceForce ServiceCommission tolook into the conditionsof serviceof the membersof the SANDF.To further advance this effort in 2010,the DOD submitted to parliament anAmendment Bill to the Defence Act of2002. The bill proposed, among others,a separate dispensation for the DODfrom the public service sector, whichwould give it legal standing and a permanentservice commission. This is inthe process of being established andthe names of nominees have alreadybeen submitted for consideration.Furthermore, salary increases rangingfrom 2% to 65% for all members of theSANDF on salary levels 2 to 12 wereeffected as from 1 December 2009. Theincrease was part of the DOD's commitmentto ensure that members of theSANDF are remunerated at levels thatcomplement their responsibility.In order to address the declining stateof defence infrastructure, the DOD is10• M A Y 2 0 1 1