More proof Pretoria is South Africa’s military capital comes at the beginning of May with the third staging of an ever-growing military fair at the Voortrekker Monument.
Scheduled for the May public holiday on Thursday the first, the fair has already attracted 36 exhibitors and an even bigger drawcard in its guest speaker.
Retired SA Army major general Johan Jooste has accepted an invitation to address the large crowd expected to visit the monument on the southern side of the Pretoria CBD. He will give those attending the fair an insight into how he and the Kruger National Park ranger corps, with assistance from the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and the defence industry, are going about beating the scourge of rhino poaching.
Fair organiser Geraldine Paulsen has also lined up buyers and sellers of militaria including books, medals and weapons making the event a must for military history enthusiasts.
The SA Army Armour Formation will for the second year in a row support the fair with a display of some of its equipment and grenade manufacturer Milkor will also be at the fair. Paulsen is hopeful they will have some of their equipment available for fair goers to fire under controlled conditions.
“It’s growing in size and is a wonderful day out for military people, be they serving or retired soldiers to meet with like-minded people to discuss common interests and search for items missing from their collections of medals and insignia,” she said.
