I was quite fascinated to hear this afternoon the head of the SANDF, General Shoke’s reasoning why more SA troops need to be sent to the CAR (Central African Republic), this with reference to the amount of money such an exercise will cost.
Apparently this is a matter of “national importance” – his words – as they are needed to protect South African instructors already on the ground there. Ya, well, no fine – if I’m not mistaken that’s exactly how the Yanks ended up in Vietnam, but that’s a different story.
Now, considering that the SAPS recently arrested a whole lot of DRC rebels, in Limpopo – and even one in Cape Town who obviously got lost – here to obtain military training, in exchange for mining rights, possibly a better – and much more cost effective – solution would be the following:
Bring our instructors home from the CAR, have them train the DRC rebels, then send the rebels back to the DRC and let the CAR troops trained by SA’s finest and the rebels – now also trained by SA’s finest - have a go at one another. We could sell arms to both groups, wait a reasonable amount of time and then broker a peace deal between whoever is left and come away smelling like roses – with mining rights in both countries and having saved ourselves millions in deployment costs.
These millions could then be used to complete the fortifications needed to secure Nkandla against an attack by right wingers, the DA and assorted malcontents currently masquerading as counter-revolutionaries in SA.
Methinks I should have stayed in the SADF, could have been a Field Marshall by now, but perhaps I’m just not following the General's reasoning.
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