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Chairperson

One of the freedoms embraced in the Freedom Charter is freedom from fear of bodily harm and freedom from hunger. It is the freedom to participate in normal daily activities for all our people. There shall be peace and security, says the Freedom Charter. In this year's budget, the Minister of Finance, the honourable Trevor Manuel linked the twin concepts of freedom and development. This is the framework on which our defence policy is based. This policy marked a major break with the apartheid defence doctrine of destabilisation and domination.

The 2003 National Budget gives priority to reducing poverty and vulnerability. Poverty and unequal access to resources are key causes of conflict. As part of the International Relations Peace and Stability Cluster, the Department of Defence is a leader in the efforts to bring peace in Africa. We believe that without peace and stability economic development will not fully take off. Conversely, without economic development and justice, there cannot be peace. We believe that it is possible to end war. Through NEPAD, Africans determined to find lasting solutions to the problems facing us.

The benefits of a peaceful, stable and developing Africa make it worthwhile to invest in peace building in our continent. It is in this context that an African Standby Force under the auspices of the African Union is being mooted. The core value of a common defence policy is based on the indivisibility of continental security. It recognises the fact that each African country's security is linked inseparably to another. Another core value that forms part of the common defence policy is the acceptance that conflict resolution should principally be affected through peaceful means. As conflicts within states often spill over into neighbouring states, the central tenet of the common defence policy therefore remains non-aggression.

To meet this objective each country is expected to assess its own doctrine and security situation. Each country has to look at its assets and determine what it can contribute to the common good. It is expected that our country, as one of those with stronger economies on the continent, will always have to carry some of the bigger responsibilities. It is correct that members of Parliament are concerned that sufficient funds are allocated for our peacekeeping obligations, while ensuring our own domestic needs are met.

The whole of Africa is working, continentally and regionally, to meet these challenges. On the defence side, our approach is to create regional blocks that will then be pulled together to form a continental body. I can report that we in the SADC are in the process of finalising the SADC Mutual Defence Pact and are hopeful that it will be signed at the coming Heads of States summit in August.

I can also report that discussion on the African Standby Force is at an advanced stage and agreement has been reached on a number of matters. Some of the matters reached are the following:

* Doctrine and posture;
* Shifts in the nature of peacekeeping;
* Common standards of training;
* Interoperability of forces;
* Equipment and logistics;
* Standard procurement regimes for commonly identified equipment needs;
* The establishment of command structures

Chairperson, whilst the constitutional mandate of the Department of Defence remains the same, the increased regional commitments has brought about additional spending which pressurises the Department's budget allocation. These were not foreseen and thus not accommodated. Sending a soldier on peacekeeping duty costs more than maintaining a soldier in a base within the country. The DoD is deploying twice as many members as was anticipated in the Defence Review while the budget allocation as anticipated in the Defence Review was never met.

The DOD continues to align its mandate and tasks with the available resources, especially but not exclusively, with regard to our increased yet necessary external deployments. These deployments are not confined to peacekeeping in Burundi and the DRC, but also include our presence, in the form of military attaches, in a number of countries. This presence was necessitated by our having to service 103 international agreements under guidance of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In responding to the challenge posed by budgetary constraints, the DoD has been guided by the considerations to achieve an excellent strategic direction, resource management, maintaining effective combat forces and support forces, while ensuring a high standard of professionalism through effective command and control, doctrine, tactics and appropriate technology.

Another consideration is the implementation of the transformation process. The DoD recognises that successful transformation is essential to ensure the alignment of its policies with that of government. These are issues of civil- military relations, transparency, representivity, state expenditure and security. Issues of inequality caused conflict within the DoD in the past, and will continue to do so unless they are addressed.

The effort to increase the number of women participating in the peace processes must be intensified. The UN Security Council's Resolution 1325 calls member countries to ensure that women are represented at all levels of decision making and in all peace processes and post conflict reconstruction. In this regard we are happy to report that our women personnel have been deployed in peacekeeping alongside their male comrades right from the beginning and have coped very well.

The Chief Directorate on Equal Opportunities intends to engage the Chief of Joint Operations to challenge him to encourage equal women participation in the peace processes and peacekeeping, and to ensure gender mainstreaming in training for peacekeeping and to ensure adherence to the SANDF code of conduct. The Code of Conduct calls for the protection of women and girls from rape and other gender-based violence.

We are happy to report also that women soldiers are making a special contribution to the peace process in the DRC through their participation in the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. This process was initiated by the Presidency, under the leadership of Mrs Zanele Mbeki. The DoD's own programme of involving women in the peace processes in Africa continues to grow. This year, the African Women's Peace Table, a forum created in 2000 to initiate dialogue among women soldiers and civilian women peace activists will focus the role of women in NEPAD and the AU. We expect participation by women from the SADC Defence Forces.

Another important development this year is the production by the Chief Directorate of a draft document that proposes a policy on shared values for the DoD. This new addition will strengthen the ongoing efforts to fully transform the DOD.

The Human Resources Division of the DoD has embarked on a skills development project to address the issue of lack of representivity, especially in the highly technical musterings of the SANDF. The failure to get the numbers correct could be attributed to the education dispensation of the past, which made and continues to make the availability of properly prepared school-leavers difficult.

The Youth Foundation Training Programme (YFTP) started in 2001 is an urgent intervention by the DoD for young people from disadvantaged background. The aim of the programme is to produce a critical mass of well-trained young people who have good symbols in mathematics and physical science for recruitment into the SANDF.

The South African Air Force has embarked on the Siyandiza Aviation Awareness Programme, to increase the recruitment pool of youth coming from disadvantaged communities in order to address the problem of a lack of representivity. This project aims to improve the mathematics symbols of school-leavers in order to make them eligible for acceptance to train as pilots, but also as navigators, air traffic controllers and engineers.

The Air Force Board approved an academic approach to the new programme which gave birth to the ''South African Air Force Young Falcons' Programme'. This new programme, catering for Grades 6-12 learners will be undertaken with the assistance of the Department of Education in partnership with the DOD and will create a true Air Force identity.

The DoD faces challenge of ensuring that military veterans are assisted to re-integrate smoothly into productive civilian life. In attempting to meet this challenge, Parliament passed the Military Affairs Veterans' Act of 1999. The Act made provision for the appointment of a board to advise the Minister of Defence on issues that concern military veterans in order to improve their quality of life and that of their dependents.

The Service Corps was established in September 1995 to re-integrate ex-combatants into society. A study, which was ordered by the Ministry of Defence revealed that the Service Corps was not functioning optimally and had not succeeded in migrating out of the SANDF as originally envisaged. We are happy to announce that efforts to migrate the Service Corps into a national vehicle that would benefit the nation, is currently underway. This would provide general access to its immense resources, such as the Centre for Advanced Training in Pretoria. In doing so, these resources will be made available to assist in the development of our nation.

To ensure the success of such a migration it is crucial that as government we develop clear output criteria to ensure compliance with our socio-economic objectives. In this regard, we recognise the need to ensure links with existing socio-economic clusters, in order to ensure viability, such as those in Public Works, DTI, Labour and Social Development.

Developmental peacekeeping provides the SANDF with a unique opportunity to assist in the migration of the Service Corps, whilst linking into existing infrastructure related interventions that would support NEPAD. Both the CSIR and MOD are currently exploring the viability of a developmental peace keeping model.

In April this year the Minister of Water Affairs & Forestry, Mr Ronnie Kasrils and I launched Operation Vuselela, a project to eradicate foreign vegetation on SANDF-controlled land. This was in recognition of the fact that the welfare of military veterans is not an exclusive responsibility of the DoD. Operation Vuselela employs only military veterans and is run under the auspices of Working for Water Programme with funding from the Poverty Relief Fund.

The size and scope of the problem of unemployed former combatants, generally young and restless is a problem not only for individual defence forces, but for the region and the continent as a whole. We cannot sleep peacefully with tens of thousands of hungry former soldiers roaming around.

Previously, I have spoken about the importance of ensuring that national military heritage integrates struggle and resistance military history. In pursuit of this objective the Ministry of Defence and the Directorate on Military Veteran Affairs have held discussions with the Board of Freedom Park. We are happy with the progress being made by Freedom Park to honour our national heritage and the contribution to our freedom made by the liberation armies. We thank Dr Wally Serote and the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology for their continued support in this regard.

The World Congress of Military Veterans will take place in Johannesburg in December of this year. We look forward to this important international conference that will be hosted for the first time by an African country. Having this conference in Africa provides an opportunity for African military veterans to put their issues on the agenda.

Government has realised that there was oversight in drawing up the Special Pensions Act of 1996. Many deserving former members of the liberation movements were left out of the ambit of the Act. As announced by Treasury, the Special Pensions Act, 1996, is being amended to rectify issues that were overlooked. It is expected that the President will sign the amended Act during the present session of Parliament.

Collateral utility is about the peacetime utilisation of Defence capabilities and resources for civilian purposes. In this regard, the SANDF continues to be involved in the fight against cholera and malaria, in our country and in the SADC region, through the South African Military Health Service and other divisions, like the Army Engineer Corps. SAMHS was a key participant in the Rally Against Malaria, organised under the leadership of the Minister of Health, Minister Tshabalala-Msimang.

The SANDF was involved in the construction of a temporary bridge on the South Coast following the bombing, allegedly by members of the Boeremag. The SANDF also contribute to internal security, peace and stability in support of the South African Police Service.

The DoD has intensified its efforts to fight HIV/AIDS through its Masibambisane Campaign. A national HIV/AIDS co-ordinator was appointed in the Ministry of Defence to this end. To date the Masibambisane campaign has been launched in most provinces. A total of over R. 4,6 million was spent on the campaign for the 2002/2003 financial year. 2 500 staff members have been trained as peer educators, occupational health and safety officers, master trainers, health care workers, and HIV programme developers. 71% of the staff in the DoD was exposed to Masibambisane. However, in consideration of the scale of the task against HIV/AIDS, more funds need to be made available. We are very grateful for the donor funding that we have received in aid of this programme.

HIV poses a special challenge for the DoD, from the point of view that the bulk of its personnel fall in the most vulnerable social group of the young, highly mobile and sexually active. The risk of Defence personnel on external deployment is heightened by long absences from home. This necessitates a more extensive training for our soldiers about the issues surrounding the virus before any deployment.

At this point I want to extend my gratitude to the personnel of the Department of Defence for remaining true to the department and to the people of South Africa.

The people of South Africa can rest assured that the Department of Defence will continue to transform itself into an instrument for peace domestically, continentally and internationally. It will work towards the day when, in reality, the world shall beat its swords into ploughshares, its spears into pruning-hooks; when nation shall not lift up sword against another and when no one shall endeavour to learn war any more.

Thank you.

Issued by the Office of the Deputy Minister of Defence