Johannesburg - Any other parade would have been washed out in the Potchefstroom rain, but the Armed Forces Day parade went on regardless.
“The farmers need rain and we are soldiers: we are flexible, we do it in rain, out of rain, in mud, wherever we go, we can do it,” said Brigadier-General Kobus Butler, who was in charge of organising yesterday’s parade in Potchefstroom.
President Jacob Zuma, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, took the salute in Potchefstroom and emphasised the SA National Defence Force’s role as a peacekeeper in Africa: “Our soldiers are always ready to respond to the call to promote and support peace and stability on the African continent.”
The SANDF is still involved in several peacekeeping operations in Africa.
Zuma said a battalion was being prepared to be ready for deployment as needed for such operations.
“It is a very important initiative by the continent because it enables us to provide African solutions to African problems.”
He said it was fitting to have an Armed Forces Day to celebrate the country’s soldiers, saying that they inspired the nation.
“In only 20 years, our defence force has become a force for peace and a force of great pride in the country and the continent.”
He paid tribute to those who had helped in operations in other countries, such as in recent flood aid in Mozambique, and those who worked closer to home in anti-crime operations.
Zuma awarded Mandela Gold medals to a group of soldiers including the Chief of the Defence Force, General Solly Shoke.
The awards were for help during the lying in state and state funeral of Nelson Mandela who, as a former president, was once also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Many recipients were from the SA Military Health Services.
Rows of flag-bearers stood to attention in the rain for hours, as units from around the country marched past Zuma for the presidential salute, and a long column of armoured vehicles drove past.
Overhead, helicopters, aeroplanes and heavy-lift Hercules C130 aircraft flew over the town. The presidential Boeing flew over, escorted by four Gripen fighters, and culminating in a flypast of Hawk and Gripen fight jets.
The ceremonial guard and band marched off to the tune of Pata Pata, the song made famous by Miriam Makeba.
Armed Forces Day commemorates the anniversary of the sinking of the SS Mendi in World War I, when more than 600 died.
It’s also the time of the symbolic handing over of the flag from one arm of service in the SANDF to another, as they take it in turns to safeguard the flag for a year. This year the SA Air Force handed over the flag to the SA Navy.
The event was bigger than the previous two such events in Atteridgevillle, outside Pretoria, and Bloemfontein.
Butler said yesterday’s event involved 1 200 troops on parade, flypasts by 25 aircraft, a convoy of about 90 armoured vehicles, and 600 or 700 support people across the country.
It involved as much as a quarter of the military’s total heavy equipment.
The SANDF has been planning the day since November and went out of their way to get the Potchefstroom residents on board.
“Every aspect of this town bought into this,” said Butler.
The convoy and flights went over the town centre as well as surrounding parts of the town.
Costs haven’t been totalled but were probably in the region of R2 million, said Butler.
Preparations included the cutting down of eight trees on the streets. “It was not to do harm to the city,” said Butler, promising that these would be replanted with indigenous trees next week.
“We will leave the town in a very much better condition.”
In the run-up to the parade day, the SANDF invited local schools to see preparations and go on flights
Potchefstroom, a traditional military town, gave the SANDF the freedom of the city.
“There was not one ‘no’ to me,” said Butler, emphasising that this was because the town was so co-operative.
Parades like this are regarded as important so that South Africans know what the military is about. “The people need to see, they need to feel, the military.
“If they don’t feel them, there’s a distance, and then we don’t understand what we can do for each other,” said Butler.
The Sunday Independent