SANDF may get more generals

2003-11-16 22:32

Erika Gibson

Johannesburg - It will be "terminally stupid" of the SANDF to appoint 19 new generals in important positions if they do not have the necessary qualifications.

This was the reaction of Helmoed Romer-Heitman, military expert, on Sunday to the defence force's latest list of 19 newly appointed generals.

According to Romer-Heitman it would be also be "terribly wrong" if artificial general posts are created for the sake of representivity.

He says the current wave of promotions is also geared at making the defence force "look good" in the run-up to next year's election.

Apart from these generals, four foreign military attaché posts have been upgraded to the rank of brigadier general.

These appointments come after repeated assurances by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota that the defence force was looking at reducing the number of generals.

Last year the SANDF already had 207 generals and one of the highest general/soldier ratios (1:338) in the world. The US army has 4 000 soldiers for each general.

Estimations are that the defence force could save more than R1bn if it halved the number of generals.

Romer-Heitman said several elderly generals from the integration forces are set to retire next years when a new, favourable pension scheme is introduced.

Some of these generals have been sitting at home on full pay on special home leave for the past two years in anticipation of this scheme. Some were even promoted while on leave.

- Beeld