The South African Defence and Military Veterans Ministry familiarisation tour made its third service stop at the SA Navy (SAN) headquarters unit in downtown Pretoria this week.
On arrival at what was SAS Immortelle, Minister Angie Motshekga and her deputies Richard Hlophe and Bantu Holomisa were welcomed by a summer uniformed guard of honour against Pretoria’s Spring backdrop of purple Jacaranda blossoms.
After being updated by SAN Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese and the Navy Command Council, Motshekga is reported as saying: “These engagements [with SA National Defence Force (SANDF) services and Department of Defence (DoD) divisions] are meant to give us a deeper understanding about the state of the SAN and how best we can support the Navy to ensure that they continue with the work of securing the maritime domain”.
To date, the ministerial tour has taken in the SA Army at its Pretoria headquarters and the SA Air Force (SAAF) at Air Force Base (AFB) Waterkloof in Centurion with Surgeon General, Lieutenant General (Dr) Ntshavheni Maphaha’s SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) still to come.
Motshekga, Hlophe, Holomisa and a Ministry of Defence retinue have also been to the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), Armscor and Saab Grintek Defence in Centurion’s Highveld Techno Park as a defence industry interaction. The Department of Defence (DoD) has it the familiarisation tour will finish on 17 September and will include DoD divisions with Joint Operations and Logistics named. She will also, according to DoD Head of Communication (HoC), Siphiwe Dlamini, “engage with soldiers on the ground”.
