Hello Zim

BigAl-sa

BigAl-sa

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I was one of the people running a function for the air force/denel (lower case implied) ground staff today. It was supposed to be one of these team building kind of exercises. Instead, it was more like a memorial service.

Today, 234 of the ground staff in Pretoria got retrenched.

We are prolly at the stage where zim can take over SA with the helicopters we donated to them...
 
If the budget is depleted its not the fat cat that suffers but the mice.

Sad to hear of more and more jobs being lost and not seeing any effective efforts to try and create any.
 
Tough for the 234 but if they are good enough there should be opportunities in the private sector.

The only military planes we need in the air are helicopters, cargo planes and maritime reconnaissance.

Time to slash the defense budget - most of which is spent on stuff we don't need.
 
The question is where the hell do those people go now.... I feel for them

So much for widening the tax net, it just shrunk with another 234...... the pool to be taxed just become smaller and smaller by the day....
 
daveza said:
Tough for the 234 but if they are good enough there should be opportunities in the private sector.

The only military planes we need in the air are helicopters, cargo planes and maritime reconnaissance.

Time to slash the defense budget - most of which is spent on stuff we don't need.
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There is never enough money for fuel so everything is grounded most of the time while the fat cats go shopping in pink slippers with the gravy.
 
BigAl-sa said:
We are prolly at the stage where zim can take over SA with the helicopters we donated to them...
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Was talking to someone about this last night. I hear that it is in fact not a done deal as of yet. Something about violation of sanctions or some such thing? Obviously required contest by someone other than the powers that be but anyone know if there is truth to it?
 
I hear that it is in fact not a done deal as of yet.
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http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Zim-helicopter-interdict-confirmed-20130222

An interim court order to stop the proposed delivery of South Africa's fleet of Alouette III helicopters to the Zimbabwean Air Force was confirmed in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Friday.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC) and the Secretary of Defence did not oppose the granting of a final interdict.

The interdict will stand pending the finalisation of civil rights group AfriForum's application to review the Sandf’s decision to donate its entire fleet of unwanted Alouette III helicopters and spares to Zimbabwe.

The review application will be heard in the High Court on 27 March.

In terms of the court order the defence minister was given until 28 February to deliver a full record of the decision making process to the court.
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daveza said:
Nobody, same as our subs.
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I understand your thinking, but a plane can take out one of those subs, but not vice versa.

We really do need a working airforce, even if it is only for sea patrols...
 
Denel is state owned. So it is politics.

I do however think they should sell off the entire asset list of the SAAF, and most of the army, and the navy... because honestly I don't think they're capable of going to war so they're just burning cash.
 
SAAF does not need fighter equipment because there's no one to fight. Buying those Gripens was a waste of taxpayer money, investing in the Rooivalk was also a waste of money although it's nice that it's homemade. Flying the Hawks is also a waste of money because they train pilots for combat that will never happen.

I think that they should just park all these things in Limpopo in case Zim decides to be stupid. The air wing of SAPS can handle attacks from Zim or Bots or Moz.

SAAF can keep the transport and utility aircraft and maintain them internally. We'll need those for good deeps such as rescuing people from floods or delivering ballot papers to DRC
 
Some AMG specialists will move to the SAAF
More than 300 aircraft maintenance specialist engineers and technicians who have been ensuring continued airworthiness of many SA Air Force (SAAF) aircraft will be retrenched and about 200 will find themselves in the employ of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans (DoDMV).

All are currently employed by AMG (Aero Manpower Group), a business unit of State-owned defence industry conglomerate Denel.

The retrenchment issue first raised its head last November when it was revealed the SAAF would not be renewing its contract with AMG. The contract was cancelled because it did not meet regulations prescribed in the Public Finance Management Act and prescripts set by National Treasury the SAAF said in a statement. It was apparently renewed without going to open tender.

Exactly how the SAAF will go forward on this critical aspect of keeping aircraft, including some in the VIP squadron, operational was revealed to Parliament’s Select Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) by Defence Secretary Dr Sam Gulube.

According to the Afrikaans daily Beeld he said “less than 200” Denel technicians would be employed by the DoDMV. This was confirmed by trade union Solidarity which has been fighting the retrenchments.

Spokesman Jack Loggenberg said the remaining 300 plus specialist aircraft maintenance men would be retrenched.

“A short term year-long contract has been agreed to, but it is mainly about skills transfer rather than actually doing the work,” he said with regard to those who will move to the SAAF.

Gulube’s statement that the DoDMV and the SAAF was looking to develop its in-house capability in this regard bears out the skills transfer aspect.

He also told Scopa, according to Beeld, an analysis showed not all the 500 plus workers could be classified as having scare and specialist skills and the majority of the 528 affected employees where white and older than 60.

“The Air Force is identifying the scarce skills it needs and estimates are less than 200 people will be taken up by it,” Gulube said.

Deputy SAAF Chief Major General Jerry Malinga is on record as saying the loss of the specialist maintenance knowledge will mean “some serious knocks” for the airborne arm of the SA National Defence Force.

He told an Air Force Day media briefing the end of the AMG contract “doesn’t mean we don’t have anything” regarding maintenance capabilities.

“We need to build up to filling those gaps and I can’t say how long it will take.”

The one year contract is an indication of how the SAAF plans to fill the gaps in its maintenance Loggenberg said.
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defenceWeb

Somewhat balanced article about the retrenchments, to put it simply, the SANDF simply cannot afford to hire all those affected. On the other hand it probably can't afford not to.

It's quite amazing that even though they already have a shortage of technical personnel they are letting these guys go, also concerning is that many of them are basically at retirement age anyway.

This can only have serious consequences in terms of aircraft availability. If the SANDF is to do what's expected of them then they really need to be funded accordingly, having to charter aircraft for urgent foreign deployments, having expensive fighter jets that are unable to fly their required hours, not having maritime patrol aircraft etc. is bad enough. This has the potential to be the final nail in the coffin.

A bit off-topic, the the only weapons available on the Gripen right now are dumb bombs and 10 IRIS-T missiles, which doesn't make for a very effective fighter.
 
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