Chairperson, Ministers here present, Deputy Ministers here present, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, you will, no doubt, note from my General sitting there that we have one person missing from our midst. It is Gen Godfrey Ngwenya who, on 30 March 2011, relinquished his post as Chief of the SA National Defence Force. He is now His Excellency the Ambassador of South Africa to Angola. [Applause.]
He is an amazing man, our General, dedicated and unassuming. The Defence Force was his life. He served with distinction in our ranks as a commander in uMkhonto weSizwe, MK, in the camps of the ruling party in Angola in the 1980s and in that capacity was the last man standing when our soldiers of the ruling party returned home in 1990. He joined uMkhonto weSizwe in 1976 and commanded MK forces in Angola from 1983 to 1989.
He was appointed Chief of the National Defence Force on 1 January 2005. He was an outstanding General, who served the SA National Defence Force, SANDF, with integrity, upholding every virtue that we stand for; a man of outstanding discipline.
He brought stability and a sense of belonging to members. He kept the SANDF together under very trying circumstances when there was a political glitch in our system, which had a very distinct impact on the SANDF. He held it together remarkably when not only the then Minister, but the Deputy Minister too, turned their backs on the SANDF and jumped ship to sink forever into the distant horizon of political oblivion. We survived the unthinkable: when a Minister of Defence effectively defects and joins another party, because Gen Ngwenya held the fort. He will be sorely missed.
The President will shortly be announcing the Chief of the SA National Defence Force. And judging from all of them sitting over there, it will be a man. I see no woman there. That does not give us any clues who it will be, but I am certain that that particular person - and I can go on to say he - will be called upon to fill Gen Ngwenya's shoes and lead the Defence Force to its full potential. This will be no mean feat for anyone, no matter the size of his shoes.
I take this opportunity also to thank the outgoing board of Armscor, the Armaments Corporation of SA, whose term of office comes to an end on 30 April 2011. I thank in particular the chairperson, Dr Popo Molefe and Mr Roelf Meyer, who have served two terms and who, with excellent leadership, have notched up significant accomplishments in creating new ways of thinking.
I thank them immensely for their service to the country by serving on the board of Armscor. Their stature in their own right has added credibility to our processes in the institution. The work of Armscor has shown that we had such steadfast men of vision and commitment. I am sad to lose them from the Armscor ambit, but I hope that they will find it in themselves to serve with us again in other capacities.
To the chairperson, Dr Molefe, your personal support to me has been invaluable. You will remain forever, I hope, an embodiment of everything that we believe in and have fought for. To both of you, South Africa is so much richer for what you have given us.
We have to bid farewell also to the interim commission seated at the back there. I have boundless gratitude for the enormous amount of work they have done, for their commitment to their work, for their impartiality and impeccable scrutiny. Their dedication has allowed us to meet our target of establishing a new defence dispensation in record time. Each one of the members of the interim commission brought unique skills that together provided us with incredible capacity.
Within the rights afforded me by the Constitution, I took a conscious decision that we needed to investigate the creation of a separate dispensation for the SANDF so that we could improve the functioning and conditions in defence. I appointed the interim commission after consultation with Cabinet. In appointing the interim commission, I also took the decision completely outside any requirements of the law to consult with the portfolio committee on the appointment of members of the interim commission.
It is now a commonly recorded fact that some in the portfolio committee - maybe I shall say one in the portfolio committee - abused this gesture of goodwill and, typical of a twisted mind, hyped up a matter so tangential to the real issues we sought to resolve, that it was quite clear that they had no idea what the real challenges of our people in the SANDF were, are or will be in the future.
While they were caught up in their own self-serving melodrama - "Phantom of the Opera" is what I call it - the interim commission calmly kept their course and have delivered a very sound report to guide government on some of the challenges that had built up over the past 15 years before we took over. In line with their main term of reference, they have helped to create a dispensation within which we are now dealing with the unique problems of our soldiers in an environment that is uniquely defence.
I thank you, as you wind up the interim commission. The term of office of the interim commission comes to an end next week, when I will be announcing the names of the new Defence Force Commission in line with the legislation, after I have consulted Cabinet.
I extend special gratitude to Judge Bosielo, the chairperson of the interim commission, for your sterling stewardship, and in particular to the Members of Parliament who served on the commission for showing that although you serve in the opposition you are equally committed to the constructive development of this country; for showing that being in the opposition has nothing to do with opportunistic irresponsibility and has nothing to do with vain attempts at creating a profile.
You have inextricably bound your names to that which will enable our soldiers to live better lives. You worked with integrity to promote the defence of our country. I dread to think what would have happened if certain other members of the opposition served on the commission. I would not be exaggerating if I said that every opportunity would have been used for personal exhibition, at great security risk to the SANDF. [Interjections.]
Yes, I will repeat this and I mean it. Gen Ngwenya, Dr Molefe, Mr Meyer and members of the interim commission, I thank you all for your unwavering service. The SANDF is so much the stronger for your work. You possess that distinctive edge that one acquires when one serves and strives to live to give to a greater cause than oneself. That is what we experienced of each one of you, and I thank you most sincerely.
I deliberately started on that sombre note of bidding farewell to a number of people who have contributed significantly to where we are. This was to ensure that we all recognise that we have reached the end of a particular era in defence, but also to emphasise, importantly, that for every end there is a new beginning, continuity and a responsibility on everyone to ensure that that continuity honours the work that has been laid out for us.
It is on that note of new beginnings that I would like to welcome the new chairpersons of the portfolio committee and joint standing committee. Your vigour, your honesty, your hard work and your focus have been very refreshing. We look forward to a very productive working relationship with you.
Chairpersons of the committees, I ask that you understand that our responsibility is the defence of this country. There is no place in this noble cause for tantrums such as those we have seen in the House. We ask that you deal with the media-seeking tantrums within that environment - it is your environment - so that we can deal with our work. In this period of security turmoil and uncertainty on much of the continent, we have a great deal of responsibility and much to achieve.
We look back from our mid-term vantage point and I must say that on those priorities that we set for ourselves, we have exceeded our own expectations. Apart from the hopelessly inadequate budget - a major hindrance that I will deal with later - as I have alluded to, we have had incredible success, thanks to the many dedicated people who work tirelessly to secure our country.
When the country hosted the Fifa Soccer World Cup, the SANDF set out to ensure that the country, as was required, provided ironclad security for the duration of the tournament. The preparation, co-ordination and management of security fell under the auspices of both the SANDF and the SA Police Service.
Throughout the tournament we patrolled our territorial waters and the approaches to the ports where soccer was being played. We covered our airspace with our flying combat patrols all over the stadia. The South African Army formed a cordon on our borders and on the periphery of the stadia where games were being played. The South African Military Health Service was on standby for any emergency.
Our air defence was in control as we exercised a no-fly zone over our games. We were authorised at that particular time, and I can say it now, to shoot down any flight that was unauthorised. This is what a no-fly zone means. Here, the pertinent point is, for the present, we were able to do that and show that it is possible to exercise a no-fly zone without bringing anybody down. [Applause.]
It is also in this reporting period that the SANDF was called upon to assume further responsibility during the crippling three-week national health workers' strike in August 2010. We responded to a request from Cabinet and deployed our personnel by taking over 74 abandoned hospitals in 8 provinces. The SANDF gladly undertook these responsibilities, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit - are you listening, hon? [Interjections.] Did I say "maniac"? I'm sorry, "Maynier" - so defining of character than giving to a difficult task and giving all to that particular task.
These successes are consistent with our sterling performance on external missions. On the continental front, we are one of the biggest contributors to peacekeeping forces. I am pleased to state with pride that our armed forces are some of the most preferred in peacekeeping operations on the continent. We serve with distinction and we have been internationally acclaimed for the work that we do.
It was for this reason that at the end of last year we provided a general performance bonus as a token of our appreciation to all our members in the SANDF from salary levels 1 to 12 for their hard work and contribution towards these successes. Their contribution, loyalty, dedication and patriotism are the cornerstones of the SANDF.
We seek to highlight this sterling contribution to respond to those whose role has been to throw mud and demoralise our troops. These individuals, and in collaboration with their sponsors in the media, spared no effort to try to malign and denigrate our forces. They sought to use every platform to cast doubt on the leadership of this august structure. These individuals, who are given to melodrama, have confused Parliament for theatre, a place perhaps where they would be well advised to go ply their skills.