SIKONATHI MANTSHANTSHA: Why the SANDF needs spit and polish
We can’t allow the SANDF to become a retirement home or an employment agency for those who can’t get jobs elsewhere
The expensive inauguration ceremony for President Cyril Ramaphosa was a well-planned event designed to send a message that SA is back in business. It was meant to draw a line under the disastrous decade of betrayal under Jacob Zuma, to restore national pride and serve as a call to action. This may have been partly achieved. Sitting in the crowd, watching our men and women in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) salute their commander-in-chief in front of dignitaries, it was easy to be overcome with pride at their impeccable display of professionalism in the heat. The diversity of the aircraft that roared over our heads, from the state-of-the-art Gripen fighter jets to the Hawk fighter trainer to the much older C-130 Hercules carrier aircraft, was impressive. For me, the Rooivalk attack helicopter remains a special machine — it should be the pride of the nation and one of our premium foreign exchange earners. This is the only military aircraft SA can claim to have built and equipped...
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