Committee Report on Makhado Air Force Base Visit:Adoption & Letter of Deployment of Defence Force by President: discussion
Joint Standing Committee on Defence
09 November 2007
Meeting Summary
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Meeting report
JOINT STANDING COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE
9 November 2007
COMMITTEE REPORT ON MAKHADO AIR FORCE BASE VISIT:ADOPTION & LETTER OF
DEPLOYMENT OF DEFENCE FORCE BY PRESIDENT: DISCUSSION
Chairperson: Dr E Schoeman (ANC)
Documents handed out:
Committee Report on Makhado Air Force Base visit [available at Committee Reports
once published]
Letter on notification period for Deployment of the Defence force by the
President [document not made available to the public]
Audio
recording of meeting
SUMMARY
The Committee considered its report on the Makhado Air Force base oversight
visit, and adopted the report with amendments. The Committee considered the Letter
of Deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) by President
in compliance with international obligations, which dealt with the timeframe
within which Parliament needed to be informed of such deployment. A legal
opinion on the matter was secured, which Members considered. The opinion was
however declared confidential and was thus not made available to the public.
MINUTES
Committee Report on Makhado Air Force Base visit
The Committee discussed the findings and challenged contained in the
Report. on the visitencountered on the oversight visit
and made some recommendation to the challenges faced by the Makhado Air Force
Base. Some of the challenges included the arrests of illegal immigrants and the
problem of water scarcity on the base.
Mr J Schippers (ANC) pointed out the concerns surrounding the psychometric
assessment used in the employment of staff at the base. The tests proved to be
challenging for some staff as they struggled with the language in which the
tests were conducted.
The Chairperson responded that it was an important concern. It was necessary for
staff to be proficient in English as it is the global language. Furthermore, it
would be a huge logistical problem to conduct the test in all the eleven official
South African languages in order to cater for the none
English speakers. Also, the lack of computer proficiency among the staff was a
problem that definitely needed to be looked into.
Mr L Diale (ANC) and Mr Schippers alerted Members to the need to bring
about real transformation at the Base, even though racial integration had
progressed adequately.
A few technical and grammatical changes were effected by Members, and the
report was adopted with amendments.
Letter of Deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) by
President
The Chair informed Members that the letter dealt with the deployment of the
SANDF by the President in compliance with an international obligation, and the
timeframe within which the President needed to inform Parliament of such
employment. He asked whether Members had read the letter, and asked the Committee
Researcher whether the letter had followed the correct protocol and procedures.
Mr P Daniels, Committee Researcher, answered in the affirmative.
Members discussed its role within the procedure, as well as the legal opinion
on the matter as contained in the letter.
The meeting was adjourned.
Audio
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