CAN YOU DEFEND SOUTH AFRICA?
The South African National Defence Force is looking for able-bodies patriots to find their career opportunities in the many disciplines the force requires
IF YOU want secure, lifetime employment, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is you ideal employer. Really? Yes, really! It may sound too good to be true. It may sound like one of those lofty promises made by an aspirant career politician on the eve of an election, but it is true. The SANDF is probably the only employer that will see you use your skills post your retirement.
But that is not the best part. The SANDF is an innovative employer which will ensure growth in your career by investing in your skill development and helping you to be versatile.
The SANDF is in the business of transforming ordinary young people into committed patriots who can literally take a bullet in the defence of South Africa. The SANDF cannot afford to have grumpy personnel.
Major General Mogoruti Ledwaba of the South African Air Force is clear in his explanation.
“We want to attract the best young people. But it is not just attracting them to get a job, it is to make them loyal to the country and its people. Ultimately, they have to see their work in the defence force as a calling. For them to continue to feel that way, they have to be indebted to the defence force.
“We recruit young people. At the time that we recruit them, they are young and agile. They can jump off a moving truck, they can also jump from an aircraft. They can engage in combat. They can aim and shoot, using different weapons. But at a later stage, in their mid-40s, they are not as agile as they were when they were young.
“The Defence Force has a pyramid structure. This means that there is a limited scope for promotion and there will be those soldiers who do not get promoted. They will reach the age of 45 and still be just soldiers.
“In other countries, the older soldiers are forced to leave the force. But in our country, we do not do this. We keep them until they retire at 60. However, even after then we keep many of them as reservists who continue to provide various services to the defence force.
“When a soldier has reached his career plateau, we have to train him in other skills. We train them in other skills such as plumbing, bricklaying, electrical engineering and many other artisan skills.
“In our section, Defence Logistics, we have to maintain many of the buildings that we occupy. There are many opportunities to use these skills. So, what we are doing is to use our own people to maintain our buildings.
“The good thing about an acquired skill is that you will always have it. If we train you as a plumber, you can go on retirement but you will still be a plumber who can be used. As a reservist, we can always call on your service and you will be paid for that.”
Ledwaba is passionate about the role that the defence force is playing to empower its members.
“Recently, the President (Jacob Zuma) announced that the government would be building houses for military veterans. While this is good, we should move away from this. We should empower our soldiers with skills and make them so versatile that they are in a position to build houses for themselves.
“I have a simple philosophy. Those members of our society who become soldiers, must be the pride of the nation. They must be the envy of everybody. Soldiers must not be beggars. We should empower them so that they can do things for themselves.
“There are so many careers in the defence force,” Ledwaba continues. “There are careers in engineering – electrical, structural, mechanical – accounting and a host of others. We have launched Project Lebaka as an initiative to create other career opportunities for soldiers who have reached their career plateau. I tell my people that not all of you will become generals but you can study and qualify as an engineer and even earn more than some of the high-ranking officers because you would be paid as an engineer.”
Other careers that can be pursued in the defence force include environmental studies and geology. Environmentalists are critical in the rehabilitation of the land that the defence force members use during their training.
Brigadier General Getrude Mngadi explains that environmentalists help the defence force to comply with legislation.
This is especially important as the SANDF controls vast tracts of land.
“The SANDF is in control of approximately 420 000 hectares of land on which a number of bases and military training areas are situated for the training of personnel, support to operations as well as the evaluation and testing of equipment in order to prepare forces for domestic and international deployments.
“All military activities practiced on such training areas cause damage and deterioration of the natural environment. Therefore, sustainable integrated environmental management on the properties controlled by the defence force ensures that the quality of land and environmental resources are maintained,” says Mngadi.
The defence force is an entity with impressive assets. It occupies more than 2 400 facilities, comprising of more than 36 000 buildings. The current estimated replaced value of the property portfolio is R72 billion and the total land value, excluding leased properties, is R159 billion. With that kind of asset base, the SANDF is well positioned to occupy the number one spot as an employer of choice, with the additional bonus of possible future employment, which can even be extended pos t retirement.